Withholding info on Overtime OK’d
EDMONTON JOURNAL
EDMONTON - The province’s privacy commissioner has upheld the decision by city police to withhold information related to its investigation of how The Journal obtained a recording of police broadcasts on the night of the Overtime stakeout.
On the night of an alleged police sting operation at the Overtime Boiler and Taproom in 2004, officers involved in the stakeout for impaired drivers were talking extensively over the police radio.
The Journal obtained a recording of many of these conversations, which formed the basis of articles related to the operation.
The following year, The Journal requested, through freedom of information legislation, any records related to the police department’s own investigation into how The Journal obtained these recordings.
In a written order released today by Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work, the police decision to withhold 23 of 37 pages of documents was upheld.
Under the legislation, a public body is required to withhold information if it constitutes an unreasonable invasion of the personal privacy, and Work found the documents in question included information about individuals’ health, criminal records and even personal views and opinions, the judgment says.
“Some of the third parties are well-known public figures and senior officials whose name alone reveals personal information,” Work wrote.
And much of the information in these records is intertwined with personal information, he wrote.
The Edmonton Police Service had argued that the withheld documents relate to law enforcement activities, and the investigation covers possible obstruction of justice, breach of trust and whether there was an illegal interception of radio communications.
Some of the information involves legal opinions and advice, which should not be disclosed under privacy legislation, Work wrote in his 18-page order.