From the Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: Are agency policies and procedures public?

A: Yes, except where the release would threaten the safety of individuals or would disclose the “institution, progress or results” of an agency investigation. For the most part, agency policies and procedures reflect “decisions” made by a public agency and therefore qualify as “public records” under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law. There are exceptions in the law, however, where release of a document would harm a person’s personal security or reputation or where the release would disclose the “institution, progress or results” of an agency’s investigation. In Gutman v. Pennsylvania State Police, 612 A.2d 553 (Pa.Cmwlth. 1992), the Commonwealth Court ruled that state police rules on the use of deadly force were public records. In that case, the Court also found that documentation relating to sobriety and drug checkpoints, interdiction programs, and intelligence-gathering regarding political activity, subversive activity and terrorism were not public. See also Heicklen v. Department of Corrections, 769 A.2d 1239 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2001) (Department of Corrections’ protocol regarding identification and treatment of inmates with Hepatitis C and survey results regarding number of infected inmates were public records, however medical documentation of patients was not public); Vargo v. Dept. of Corrections, 715 A.2d 1233 (Pa.Cmwlth. 1998) (Department of Corrections’ policies relating to the qualifications of personnel who use drug screening equipment for visitors were public, although identity of drug screening equipment, operation of equipment, equipment’s calibration, and Department’s tests for accuracy were not public); Owens v. Horn, 684 A.2d 208 (Pa.Cmwlth. 1996) (Department of Corrections' Code of Ethics was public).

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