By: The Savannah Morning News has settled a dispute with Savannah-Chatham County police over public access to police reports after the department agreed to post a daily list of all reports on its Web site.
The agreement resolves a complaint the newspaper made to Attorney General Thurbert Baker last month accusing the police department of violating the Georgia Open Records Act by suspending unfiltered access to daily incident reports.
For years, Savannah police compiled copies of the latest reports, which are public records by law and total about 300 daily, and kept them on a clipboard at the front desk. Combing through the reports for news stories was a daily ritual for police reporters.
The department discontinued the clipboard Dec. 24 as it began converting to a paperless, electronic system. While copies of individual crime reports could still be obtained at police headquarters, there was no comprehensive list available to the media and general public.
Under an agreement reached Monday, Savannah police will post a comprehensive list of the latest reports - including all reported incidents, including traffic accidents and false alarms - each morning on the department's Web site. The list will detail the type of crime, date and neighborhood for each.
"We believe our mutual discussion was very productive and resolves the issue on access to crime report information," said Michael Traynor, publisher of the Savannah Morning News.
Police Chief Michael Berkow said the department's transition to an electronic reporting system could take until June to complete. The daily list of crime reports is planned to be a temporary measure until police can make a synopsis of all reports available to the public online.
"It's been a challenge of technology," said Berkow, who denied his department had violated the open records law.
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