COWLES PUBLISHING COMPANY, Respondent, v. THE STATE PATROL, ET AL, Petitioners.
No. 53097-1
En Banc
January 7, 1988
712 Wash.
Kain & Snow, by Gregory G. Staeheli, for petitioner Spokane Police Guild.
Witherspoon, Kelley, Davenport & Toole, P.S., by Duane M. Swinton, for respondent.
Leo Poort on behalf of Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, amicus curiae for petitioners.
Richard W. Kuhling on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and Michael J. Killeen on behalf of Allied Daily Newspapers and Washington Association of Broadcasters, amici curiae for respondent.
During the summer of 1983, a reporter investigating an incident in which two Spokane police officers shot and killed a man was told that the same officers might have been involved in a prior incident in which they allegedly used excessive force. The reporter also heard that the prior incident generated a citizen‘s complaint resulting in the officers being reprimanded. In an effort to substantiate this
The three agencies consented to provide edited copies of the documents requested, but intended to delete information relating to the identity of the officers involved, the complaining parties, and other witnesses who had been interviewed. The agencies claimed the deletions were necessary to protect the privacy interests of the persons named in the documents, to insure effective internal affairs investigations, and the confidentiality of reported complaints. Subsequently, the Spokane Police Department and the Spokane Sheriff‘s Department did release eight edited files with the aforementioned deletions.1 The Washington State
The newspapers initiated this action and obtained an order requiring the three agencies to show cause why they should not disclose the unedited versions of the records. The Spokane Police Guild was allowed to intervene and a hearing was held on July 12 and 13, 1984.
Each agency maintains an internal affairs division, which upon receipt of a complaint investigates each incident. The officer involved is required to disclose his or her recollections with the understanding that no evidence thus disclosed may be used in any criminal investigation. The officer does not have the right to interrogate other witnesses, is not entitled to assert the privilege against self-incrimination, and is subject to dismissal upon refusal to respond. Seattle Police Officers’ Guild v. Seattle, 80 Wn.2d 307, 494 P.2d 485 (1972). The head of the agency, on the basis of all the evidence, determines whether to sustain the complaint and impose a sanction or dismiss it. Approximately 10 percent of the complaints registered either by citizens or from within an agency are sustained. The officer may appeal from the determination and is accorded a public hearing on appeal.
Internal affairs investigative files are maintained separately from the officer‘s personnel file, although a notice of sanction is placed in the personnel file. The Washington State Patrol disseminates information concerning sanctions through its teletype network to each of its divisional offices, which in turn discloses within the organization the name of the disciplined officer and the infraction.
Officers of each agency testified concerning the appre-
The court entered findings of fact, conclusions of law, and an order concluding that the names of complainants, witnesses and the officers complained against in internal investigative reports were exempt from disclosure. The court found that release of the names of the individual officers, coupled with other factual data in the reports, would violate the officers’ rights of privacy within the context of the personal information exemption,
The Internal Affairs Investigations are essential to: a) the management of each law enforcement agency; b) the maintenance of the integrity of each law enforcement agency; and c) the maintenance of the public‘s confidence in each law enforcement agency.
Confidentiality is necessary in order to encourage complaints to be made, rather than to the contrary. Each defendant agency encourages citizens and employees to file complaints whenever s/he believes the agency employee acted inappropriately.
If the individual law enforcement agencies were unable to assure confidentiality to the complaining witnesses, the ability of the specific law enforcement agencies to carry out their functions in investigating complaints against individual law enforcement officers would be seriously hampered. If the complaining witness is a law enforcement officer and if the name of the charged officer would be made public, the ability of the Internal Affairs Section of each law enforcement agency to obtain open and candid comments from complaining witnesses who happen to be law enforcement officers would be seriously hampered.
Law enforcement officers agree that it is necessary to investigate all complaints about their conduct in a thorough and objective manner.
Defendant City of Spokane has approved of the method by which citizen complaints are investigated by the Spokane Police Department‘s Internal Affairs Officer, who reports directly to the Office of the Chief of Police. Defendant City of Spokane has recognized the need for maintaining the confidentiality of the names of people who file complaints or whose right to privacy would be violated. Further, Defendant City of Spokane is able to monitor the integrity and effectiveness of the Spokane Police Department via the “chain of command” whereby the Chief of Police, who utilizes the Internal Affairs process, is directly responsible and reportable to the City Manager, who is directly responsible and reportable to the Spokane City Council, who is directly responsible and reportable to the citizens of the City of Spokane.
Compelled disclosure of the identities of those persons involved in investigations of alleged police misconduct would seriously hinder the ability of law enforcement
agencies to receive and investigate the alleged misconduct. Law enforcement agencies cannot compel private citizens to provide evidence or information regarding alleged misconduct; accordingly, they must depend upon cooperation and information that is produced voluntarily. If disclosure were required, some citizens would never complain and some would refuse to provide any evidence, or would refuse to cooperate in a complete manner. Further, if disclosure of identities were required, some police officers would be less likely to cooperate at all or to provide full and complete information during the investigation. Disclosure of the names of the Charged Officers would seriously affect the morale of each law enforcement agency as a whole. Disclosure of the name of the charged officer would have a serious negative impact upon the charged officer and his family. Disclosure of the names would result in a decline in the morale of the officer; subject the officer to annoyance and harassment in either his office or private life; subject the officer and his family to great embarrassment; and adversely affect the individual officer psychologically.
The order of the trial court was reversed by the Court of Appeals. The three law enforcement agencies were directed to disclose the names of the officers against whom each complaint was sustained. This court granted the Spokane Police Guild‘s petition for review.
The request for the names of police officers was made pursuant to the public disclosure act, codified as
That, mindful of the right of individuals to privacy and of the desirability of the efficient administration of government, full access to information concerning the conduct of government on every level must be assured as a fundamental and necessary precondition to the sound governance of a free society.
The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to promote complete disclosure of all information respecting the financing of political campaigns and lobbying, and the financial affairs of elected officials and candidates, and full access to public records so as to assure continuing public confidence of fairness of elec-
tions and governmental processes, and so as to assure that the public interest will be fully protected. In promoting such complete disclosure, however, this chapter shall be enforced so as to insure that the information disclosed will not be misused for arbitrary and capricious purposes and to insure that all persons reporting under this chapter will be protected from harassment and unfounded allegations based on information they have freely disclosed.
The public disclosure act requires that all public records be available for inspection and copying under
To the extent required to prevent an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy, an agency shall delete identifying details when it makes available or publishes any public record; however, in each case, the justification for the deletion shall be explained fully in writing.
Public records are defined in
[A]ny writing containing information relating to the conduct of government or the performance of any governmental or proprietary function prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics.
None of the parties contend that the reports requested are not “public records“. However, the law enforcement agencies assert that the names of officers were properly deleted because disclosure of the names would constitute “an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy” pursuant to
(b) Personal information in files maintained for employees, appointees, or elected officials of any public agency to the extent that disclosure would violate their
right to privacy. (d) Specific intelligence information and specific investigative records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any person‘s right to privacy.
I
When the Spokane Police Department and the other law enforcement agencies released records of internal investigations of complaints upheld against their officers, they asserted that deletion of the names of those officers was necessary to protect the personal privacy of the officers as required by
Inasmuch as the statute contains no definition of the term, there is a presumption that the legislature intended the right of privacy to mean what it meant at common law. New York Life Ins. Co. v. Jones, 86 Wn.2d 44, 47, 541 P.2d 989 (1975). The most applicable privacy right
would appear to be that expressed in tort law. Tort liability for invasions of privacy by public disclosure of private facts is set forth in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652D, at 383 (1977): “One who gives publicity to a matter concerning the private life of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the matter publicized is of a kind that (a) would be highly offensive to a reasonable person and (b) is not of legitimate concern to the public.” The comment to the Restatement illustrates what nature of facts are protected by this right to privacy. Every individual has some phases of his life and his activities and some facts about himself that he does not expose to the public eye, but keeps entirely to himself or at most reveals only to his family or to close personal friends. Sexual relations, for example, are normally entirely private matters, as are family quarrels, many unpleasant or disgraceful or humiliating illnesses, most intimate personal letters, most details of a man‘s life in his home, and some of his past history that he would rather forget. When these intimate details of his life are spread before the public gaze in a manner highly offensive to the ordinary reasonable man, there is an actionable invasion of his privacy, unless the matter is one of legitimate public interest. Restatement, supra at 386.
The standard and analysis of the Restatement appear well suited to fill the definitional void of
RCW 42.17.310(1)(c) . In addition to the fact that the tort right is the most widely recognized and established definition of the legal right to privacy, the context in which that right has emerged and the considerations surrounding its development are uniquely analogous to the values and interests which subsection (1) (c) appears designed to protect. We therefore adopt the Restatement standard as the controlling one.
In Hearst, a newspaper sought disclosure of personal and real property tax records of private citizens in an effort to determine whether the King County Assessor had given special favors to persons who contributed to his campaign. Mr. Hoppe, the Assessor, asserted that deletion of the names of the taxpayers involved was necessary to protect
In the present action the defendant law enforcement agencies contend that the holding of the Hearst case should be limited to its facts, and that this court‘s adoption of the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652D test for invasion of privacy was not intended as a general definition to be applied to all of the instances in which an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy must be proven to justify nondisclosure of public records under the public disclosure act. We disagree. “It is a familiar canon of construction, that when similar words are used in different parts of a statute, the meaning is presumed to be the same throughout.” Booma v. Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Co., 330 Mass. 79, 82, 111 N.E.2d 742, quoted in DeGrief v. Seattle, 50 Wn.2d 1, 11, 297 P.2d 940 (1956). The definition of “invasion of privacy” set forth with respect to one section of the public disclosure act should also apply to an invasion of privacy in respect to other sections of the act.
The Court of Appeals has applied the § 652D test for invasion of privacy in several situations not involving the specific exemption considered in Hearst. State Human Rights Comm‘n v. Seattle, 25 Wn. App. 364, 607 P.2d 332 (1980) applied the § 652D test to a decision by the City of Seattle to delete the names of job applicants from copies of applications provided to an individual who believed he was the victim of unfair hiring practices. The applications included information such as the applicants’ education and work experience, previous salaries, reasons for leaving former employment, military services, criminal convictions, and mental or physical disabilities. Applying the § 652D test, the court concluded “[i]t cannot be disputed by any reasonable person that the public disclosure of material contained in answers to the above questions would or could be highly offensive to the five applicants“, Human Rights
The Hearst § 652D test to the right of privacy pursuant to
The defendant law enforcement agencies cite two post-Hearst cases pertaining to the applicability of the 2-part § 652D test to the present case. First, from Rhinehart v. Seattle Times Co., 98 Wn.2d 226, 237, 654 P.2d 673 (1982), aff‘d, 467 U.S. 20 (1984), the defendants quote the following language:
A threatened invasion of [privacy] interests may not have all of the characteristics necessary to warrant recovery of damages under existent tort principles...
However, the defendants fail to continue with the quotation to give the examples listed in Rhinehart. The full statement from Rhinehart reads:
Rights of privacy are established in tort law. See Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 652–652I (1977); Mark v. Seattle Times, 96 Wn.2d 473, 635 P.2d 1081 (1981). A tort action should not and does not constitute the sole protection which government affords to the privacy interest of individuals. A threatened invasion of those interests may not have all of the characteristics necessary to warrant recovery of damages under existent tort principles and yet be properly a subject of governmental sanction. Numerous statutes of this state provide examples of such intervention.
These include
RCW 43.07.100 (information regarding personal affairs furnished to the Bureau of Statistics);RCW 26.26.050 (records of artificial insemination);RCW 71.05.390 (information regarding the mentally ill);RCW 7.68.140 (information regarding records of crime victims). Other statutes protecting confidentiality includeRCW 10.29.030(3) ,RCW 15.65.510 ,RCW 18.20.120 ,RCW 18.46.090 ,RCW 18.72.265 ,RCW 19.16.245 ,RCW 24.03.435 ,RCW 24.06.480 ,RCW 42.17.310 (the public disclosure initiative lists 11 categories of exempt records, including those containing personal information regarding students, patients, clients, prisoners, probationers, parolees, and information regarding employees, appointees or elected officials, “to the extent that disclosure would violate their right to privacy“),RCW 43.21F.060 ,RCW 43.22.290 ,RCW 43.43.856 ,RCW 43.105.041 ,RCW 48.13.220 ,RCW 49.17.200 , andRCW 78.52.260 .
Rhinehart, at 236-37.
Rhinehart did not take issue with the Hearst definition of “invasion of privacy” adopted from the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652D. Rather, the Rhinehart opinion pointed out that various statutes, including sections of the public disclosure act, protect information about individuals or agency activities beyond the safeguards afforded by a common law right to privacy. The fact that the public disclosure act and other statutes specifically set out additional safeguards for specific types of information does not indicate that the “right to privacy” referred to in those statutes should be expanded beyond the common law definition absent specific statutory language creating additional protections from disclosure.
Barfield v. Seattle, 100 Wn.2d 878, 676 P.2d 438 (1984)
Privilege under
RCW 42.17.310(1)(b) ,(d) , and(e) is conditional. To preclude disclosure there must be a showing that disclosure would violate the right of privacy, make law enforcement ineffective, or endanger a person‘s life, physical safety, or property. The defendants were unable to show these countervailing interests. Under these circumstances no privilege can be granted under the statute.
Barfield, at 885.
Two other concerns distinguish the Barfield case from the present action. First, it is unclear from the Barfield opinion whether the investigative files sought by the plaintiffs were the result of concluded or pending investigations. Release of files dealing with pending investigations, or with complaints which were later dismissed, would constitute a more intrusive invasion of privacy then would the release of files relating only to completed investigations which resulted in some sanction against the officers involved. In addition, the investigative files discovered by the plaintiffs in Barfield included the names of witnesses, thereby raising
We continue the discussion of the right of privacy with the comment to § 652D, the Restatement (Second) of Torts, in mind. In contrast to the types of information listed in the Restatement‘s comment, the information contained in the police investigatory reports in the present case does not involve private matters, but does involve events which occurred in the course of public service. Instances of misconduct of a police officer while on the job are not private, intimate, personal details of the officer‘s life when examined from the viewpoint of the Hearst case. They are matters with which the public has a right to concern itself.
We read the foregoing cases as indicating a balancing test is involved when resistance to the disclosure of public records is based upon a claimed unreasonable invasion of personal privacy. The court must first decide whether the matters to be disclosed involve “personal privacy” as defined by § 652D to wit: the intimate details of one‘s personal and private life. If such personal and private details are involved then the court must decide whether the invasion caused by disclosure would be unreasonable. If the off duty acts of a police officer bear upon his or her fitness to perform public duty or if the activities reported in the records involve the performance of a public duty, then the interest of the individual in “personal privacy” is to be given slight weight in the balancing test and the appropriate concern of the public as to the proper performance of public duty is to be given great weight. In such situations
We also conclude that a law enforcement officer‘s actions while performing his public duties or improper off duty actions in public which bear upon his ability to perform his public office do not fall within the activities to be protected under the comment to § 652D of Restatement (Second) of Torts as a matter of “personal privacy“.
Under the Hearst § 652D test, disclosure of the officers’ names would not invade the officers’ right to privacy because such disclosure would not be offensive to a reasonable person, and because matters of police misconduct are of legitimate concern to the public. The officers’ identities are not protected under
II
The law enforcement agencies contend that the identities of officers against whom complaints have been sustained are exempt from disclosure under
The following are exempt from public inspection and copying:
(b) Personal information in files maintained for employees, appointees, or elected officials of any public agency to the extent that disclosure would violate their right to privacy.
Since we have determined that disclosure of the officers’ names in the internal affairs investigative files would not violate their rights to privacy, the names of the officers set forth in those files are not exempt from disclosure under
III
Finally, the law enforcement agencies contend that the officers’ names are exempt from disclosure under
The following are exempt from public inspection and copying:
•
•
(d) Specific intelligence information and specific investigative records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any person‘s right to privacy.
We believe that this section of the statute was inserted with the present situation in mind. It is to be read with the last sentence of the declaration of policy which states:
In promoting such complete disclosure, however, this chapter shall be enforced so as to insure that the information disclosed will not be misused for arbitrary and capricious purposes and to insure that all persons reporting under this chapter will be protected from harassment and unfounded allegations based on information they have freely disclosed.
Where the information sought is not protected under a right to privacy theory,
The Spokane Police Department, the Spokane County Sheriff‘s Department and the Washington State Patrol are all law enforcement agencies. The internal investigative divisions of each of those law enforcement agencies are
We further find that the nondisclosure of the officers’ names is “essential to effective law enforcement“. Effective law enforcement requires a workable reliable procedure for accepting and investigating complaints against law enforcement officers. Such a procedure is necessary to ensure that law enforcement officers do not abuse their authority or engage in unlawful activities. In addition, reliable internal investigation procedures uphold the integrity of the law enforcement agency in the minds of the public and the officers.
When a complaint is upheld against a law enforcement officer, the law enforcement agency imposes a sanction against the officer in proportion to the seriousness of the offense committed. Depending upon the law enforcement agency and the sanction imposed, the officer may or may not have a right to appeal. Under the procedures followed by the Spokane County Sheriff‘s Department and the Washington State Patrol, the charged officer may appeal any sanction. Under the procedure followed by the Spokane Police Department, if a sustained finding results in disciplinary sanctions of 5 days or less suspension from employment, the charged officer has no right of appeal. The testimony indicates that if the name of a sanctioned officer were released to the public, the officer and his family could
The Court of Appeals held that the investigative records exemption of
First of all, we note that the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),
(7) investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such records would (A) interfere with enforcement proceedings, (B) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source, (E) disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or (F) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel...
The primary objective of this comparable section in FOIA is the protection of “enforcement proceedings” and nondisclosure of records which would jeopardize criminal investigations.
Secondly, as we read Stern, which was based upon Rural Housing Alliance v. Department of Agriculture, 498 F.2d 73 (D.C. Cir. 1974), both Stern and Rural Housing Alliance held that internal audits and monitoring were not exempt from public disclosure being general investigations and audits of agency operations as opposed to specific investigations of designated personnel. We do not have before us a question involving a “broad interpretation” which would indeed allow an exemption to swallow up the act. Rural Housing Alliance discussed the investigation of agencies seeking to discover whether agency practice was in accord with the law. Such general agency investigations were held nonexempt, but specific investigations of individuals for law enforcement purposes, whether external or internal, were to be protected. The distinction was made between oversight of agency performance, which was not protected, and investigations of specific individuals which could result in criminal or civil sanctions. These latter records were held to be protected from disclosure as being for law enforcement purposes.
In Aspin v. Department of Defense, 491 F.2d 24 (D.C. Cir. 1973), which involved an attempt to disclose the specific investigative records of the My Lai incident, it was held that since this was an investigatory file compiled for law enforcement purposes it was exempt from FOIA disclosure. The court noted that the major underlying reason for precluding disclosure was to protect sources of information whether or not the investigation was pending or concluded. The court relied on Frankel v. SEC, 460 F.2d 813, 817-18 (2d Cir. 1972), stating that it was clear that:
If an agency‘s investigatory files were obtainable without limitation after the investigation was concluded, future law enforcement efforts by the agency could be seriously hindered. The agency‘s investigatory techniques and procedures would be revealed. The names of people who volunteered the information that
had prompted the investigation initially or who contributed information during the course of the investigation would be disclosed. The possibility of such disclosure would tend severely to limit the agencies’ possibilities for investigation and enforcement of the law since these agencies rely, to a large extent, on voluntary cooperation and on information from informants.
Aspin, at 30. We find these observations particularly apropos insofar as effective law enforcement and internal management within police agencies is concerned.
Internal investigations depend upon the trust and cooperation of the law enforcement officers within the agency. In many situations, the cooperation of the officers is available because they know the incident will be kept confidential. If a sanctioned officer‘s name could be publicized, many officers would not report incidents of misconduct, or give statements which would discredit a fellow officer. In addition, if a sanctioned officer‘s name were to be made known to the public, even internal investigations officers would hesitate to uphold a complaint against an officer, knowing that serious consequences could result from the adverse publicity. We read
We find that the confidentiality of the names of persons reflected on the records of internal investigations is necessary to effective law enforcement. We hold that where internal investigation files have already been released, the names of the complainants, witnesses and officers involved are exempt from disclosure under
The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The decision of the trial court is reinstated.
PEARSON, C.J., and BRACHTENBACH and DORE, JJ., concur.
ANDERSEN, J. (concurring in the result)—In the past, I have expressed my view that the public disclosure act opens the public record doors much wider to the press and the
Accordingly, I agree with the majority that in this case we are required to reverse the Court of Appeals and affirm the trial court.
DURHAM, J., concurs with ANDERSEN, J.
DOLLIVER, J. (dissenting)—While I agree with the views of the majority regarding the use of the privacy test of Hearst Corp. v. Hoppe, 90 Wn.2d 123, 580 P.2d 246 (1978), and the personal information exception in
The analysis of any portion of the public disclosure laws must begin with the fundamental policy stated in the act:
[M]indful of the right of individuals to privacy and of the desirability of the efficient administration of government,
full access to information concerning the conduct of government on every level must be assured as a fundamental and necessary precondition to the sound governance of a free society.
The exception contained in section (1)(d) is a narrow one. The statute exempts:
Specific intelligence information and specific investigative records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any person‘s right to privacy.
Furthermore, even if the personal information could be classified as intelligence information and investigative records, the law enforcement agencies have not satisfied their burden to prove the withholding of this information is “essential to law enforcement” within the meaning of the statute. The agencies primarily rely upon the “code of silence” argument: disclosure might have a chilling effect upon the reporting of violations. The evidence in the record, however, fails to support this assertion. First, it is important to realize the information sought on appeal is the names of the officers alone, not those of the complainants or witnesses. Thus, any arguments based upon complainants’ desires for confidentiality are without force in this case. The testimony at trial indicated it was rare for the officers not to know the names of the complainants against them, nor would the complainants be more reluctant to come forward if their names were publicly disclosed. Further, the “code of silence” argument assumes the officers themselves are currently a significant source of complaints against other officers, even though no support for this assertion is offered by the record. The record does indicate hundreds of complaints are filed by private citizens, including many if not most of the complaints at issue here. There was no evidence that public disclosure of the name of the officer involved would have an effect on the submission of this type of complaint.
Contrary to the majority, I believe it is the disclosure of these names which is “essential to effective law enforcement“, rather than their concealment. It is important for the public to know how their law enforcement employees are performing their official duties and to know whether the standards within these agencies are being maintained and enforced. Disclosure of the names of officers involved in misconduct in the performance of their official duties would add credibility to the public‘s perception of the police internal affairs process.
In Columbian Pub‘g Co. v. Vancouver, supra at 31, the
We recognize that the Vancouver Police Department, when carrying out its law enforcement responsibilities, is [a law enforcement] agency. But even when we recognize [the city manager‘s] ultimate, but tenuous, law enforcement supervisory duties, in this case he was certainly not conducting the kind of investigation that the exemption requires. As we said in Laborers Int‘l Union, Local 374 v. Aberdeen, 31 Wn. App. at 448, the “records were not compiled as a result of a specific investigation focusing with special intensity upon a particular party.” This is purely a personnel matter, not an investigation in the intended sense, i.e., one designed to ferret out criminal activity or to shed light on some other allegation of malfeasance. Finally, the nondisclosure of the statements was not, as we have said, essential to the protection of anyone‘s right to privacy, nor was it essential to effective law enforcement as the exemption requires. Construing this exemption narrowly, as again we must, we find no error.
Columbian, at 31. I see no reason not to adopt the same conclusion here.
Since neither the Hearst privacy test nor the
Courts shall take into account the policy of this chapter that free and open examination of public records is in the public interest, even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public officials or others...
UTTER and GOODLOE, JJ., concur with DOLLIVER, J.
Reconsideration denied March 7, 1988.