Officials quick to release records on strip-club raid

One of several oddities about the story of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Paul Davis being at a Coffeyville strip club when it was raided by police in 1998 was how promptly the Montgomery County officials released the police records. In most states, obtaining such records is always that quick and easy. But in Kansas, officials “have denied releasing records routinely over and over and over again,” media attorney Mike Merriam told the Lawrence Journal-World. Typically, people have to sue to get the records, a long and costly process. Mike Kautsch, a University of Kansas law professor, hopes that a new legal precedent has been set to make police files more accessible to the public. “This is a model of how the law is intended to work,” he told the Journal-World. “The records custodian exercised discretion in favor of openness, and the requester doesn’t have to take legal action to be informed.” – Phillip Brownlee

This story was originally published October 9, 2014 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Officials quick to release records on strip-club raid."