A nonprofit newsroom received law enforcement rosters and certification data from the state after a court battle.
By Louis Hansen
Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO
The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services has released nearly 100,000 police records to a nonprofit newsroom to settle a public records lawsuit, opening more transparency into the discipline and training of law enforcement officers across the commonwealth.
The suit by the Invisible Institute sought police rosters, certification and other professional information as part of a nationwide effort to track police misconduct and prevent wayward cops from obscuring their pasts and landing jobs with new departments.
The DCJS initially withheld officers’ names and other identifying data from the request – a move the journalists said created a virtual secret police in Virginia. The records include names, departments, certification and active duty status. The journalists did not seek personal information.
Ian Kalish, supervising attorney at the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, who represented the Illinois-based Invisible Institute, said the material provides important transparency.
“In the past, there's been certain problems with officers doing what's known as ‘job jumping’,” Kalish said. “It essentially allows them to evade potential oversight or repercussions for misconduct by transferring to different police departments or going to different states.”
The suit, filed in Richmond Circuit Court, claimed DCJS should have released the names and certification status of current and former law enforcement and corrections officers. The two sides agreed to settle the matter, and the suit was dismissed in February.
Officials from DCJS did not respond to a request for comment.
The agency asserted in court that the state was not required to release officers’ names because, at any given time, they may be called to do undercover work. The Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in a separate public records case that the reasoning was overly broad and ordered Hanover County to release the information to a police watchdog organization.
The records are part of an effort by a coalition of nonprofit newsrooms led by the Invisible Institute and MuckRock to compile police employment and disciplinary records nationwide. The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO has collaborated with the newsrooms on the project.
Scrutiny of police disciplinary records increased after George Floyd’s murder in 2020 by Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin. The state attorney general investigated multiple complaints against Chauvin for the use of excessive force.
Virginia lawmakers passed reforms in 2020 to prevent officers with misconduct histories from easily moving to new positions. The state now requires departments to complete misconduct reviews and share with state regulators even if an officer resigns.
Virginia is one of a handful of states that either prohibit the release of officer data or have argued in court that the information is exempt from public release.
“Whenever you give that discretion to people,” Kalish said, “you want to oversee them quite strongly.”
Reach Louis Hansen at louis.hansen@vcij.org.