Policies for Outside Employment of Sworn Officers (Huntsville Police Department)
| Multi Request | Policies for Outside Employment of Sworn Officers |
| Submitted | Sept. 18, 2024 |
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Communications
From: Aspen Ford
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Alabama Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
1. All general orders, policies and procedures related to outside employment, detailing, secondary employment, off-duty work, or moonlighting of police officers.
2. Any and all versions of the General Orders/policies related to off-duty work or moonlighting since 2014.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.
Sincerely,
André Natta, a citizen of Alabama, in coordination with Aspen Ford.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Alabama Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 20, 2024. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Alabama Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 20, 2024. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Huntsville Police Department
I have received your request for records under the Alabama Open Records Law § 36-12-40 et seq.
The FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) as a matter of clarification is a federal provision that is primarily concerned with the several federal agencies and making certain information is public and available, but that act does not have applicability to state and local entities. Section 36-12-40, commonly referred to as the Alabama Open Records Law, states that “every citizen has a right to inspect and take a copy of any public writing of this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by statute.” It is therefore axiomatic that an Alabama statute that references the rights of a citizen denotes the rights of a person who is a resident of this state.
The Alabama Supreme Court has limited the import of section 36-12-40 to Alabama citizens. See State ex rel Kernells v. Ezell, 291 Ala. 440. (Ala.1973). Also, in Stone v. Consol. Publ’g Co., 404 So. 2d 678, 681 (1981) which states that public writings of the state are records that record the activities of public officers so that the status or condition of …activities can be known by our citizens. The United States Supreme Court in McBurney v. Young, 133 S. Ct. 1709, 1714 (2013) ruled that a state’s public records law limited access to public records to only the citizens of that state. Therefore, Alabama Attorney General Opinion 2018-030 has concluded that generally, access to public records is limited to requests by Alabama citizens only.
Accordingly, we are unable to fulfill your request.
Sincerely,
EDWARD E. BLAIR
Assistant City Attorney
City of Huntsville
P.O. Box 308
Huntsville, AL 35804
(256) 427-5026
(256) 427-5043 (fax)
Email: eddie.blair@huntsvilleal.gov<mailto:eddie.blair@huntsvilleal.gov>
President: Alabama Association of Municipal Attorneys (AAMA)
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