Georgia is no Alabama, and when it comes to the public’s right to know that’s a very good thing. 

The Alabama Supreme Court irresponsibly assaulted the public’s right to access and dealt a fatal blow to the state’s open records laws. 

The Court’s feckless decision makes it virtually impossible for the people of Alabama to access law enforcement records. 

Here in Georgia, when the state’s Open Records Act was rewritten back in 2012, the General Assembly made it clear, in the Act itself, that all exceptions to the Sunshine Law must be interpreted narrowly. In fact, the law cautions if there is doubt about whether a record is subject to the Act, the presumption is always toward openness.  

Now, that is not to say Georgia’s lawmakers, government administrators and records custodians always get it right and always interpret the law accurately, but the Alabama Supreme Court has inexplicably said the exact opposite and given the most broad interpretation possible to exceptions in the open records law. 

Essentially, Alabama’s high court has said to law enforcement agencies nothing has to be disclosed to the public, and all that must be done to hide the public’s business is simply declare the requested document to be part of an investigative file. Then, the information can be hidden from the public forever. 

The ruling will mean law enforcement agencies can bury police body camera, dash cam and audio recordings of interactions with the public. It is ironic that agencies are often willing to release those kinds of records if they think the footage exonerates officers but want to conceal it if it might show an officer-involved shooting, forceful restraint or knee on the neck was unjustified 

For all practical intents and purposes, Alabama no longer has an open records law when it comes to law enforcement. 

The Alabama court ruling pertained to an officer-involved shooting that happened more than four years ago and the public has every right to know exactly what happened when an officer discharged his weapon and a motorist was killed. The plain, simple truth is that people with nothing to hide don’t hide. 

In Georgia, and in most states, all initial police incident reports are public records. Documents related to an ongoing investigation are privileged and can be withheld while the investigation is underway but once the probe is completed, files are subject to open records requests and must be disclosed. 

At a time when the public is struggling with trusting police, the Alabama Supreme Court made it virtually impossible to trust either the police or the courts. 

Transparency breeds trust. 

Secrecy breeds suspicion. 

Jim Zachary is the editor of the Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s director of newsroom training and development and president emeritus of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.