Virginia considers keeping police officer names secret

(AP) — Should the government be allowed to keep the names of police officers secret from the news media and public?

A bill moving forward in Virginia would do that, and it's drawing sharp criticism from open records advocates who say the names are an important tool in keeping watch over whether police departments are hiring problem officers with taxpayer money.

The bill was introduced in response to a recent court ruling directing the state to turn over the names and employment dates of thousands of law enforcement officials to The Virginian-Pilot.

The bill would exempt the names of law enforcement officials from Freedom of Information Act requests, and also shield training records, which detail the courses an officer completed and how they performed.

If the law passes, there may be little recourse to challenging the law in court because the state can essentially make whatever rules it wants to when it comes to the Freedom of Information Act, said Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, which opposes the bill.

[...] the Democrat has sided with law enforcement over civil liberties advocates in the past, such as when he vetoed a bill last year that sought to limit how long officials can hold onto information collected from license plate readers.