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By Joanna Putman
Police1
FORT WORTH, Texas — The city of Fort Worth has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to block the release of its pursuit policy, KERA reported.
The dispute began when two people died during police pursuits in the summer of 2023, according to the report. After the deaths occurred, several news outlets filed open records requests to gain access to the Fort Worth Police Department’s pursuit policy.
The department refused to release its policies, stating that the policy contains tactical information used to “prevent, detect, respond to, and investigate acts of terrorism or related to criminal activity,” which should remain confidential. Instead of releasing the policy, the department appealed to Paxton’s office, which has the authority to decide whether the city could withhold the records, according to the report.
Paxton’s office found that the department could withhold some but not all of the information. The office stated the department “did not demonstrate the applicability of the law enforcement agency’s internal record or notation exclusion to the information at issue” and “failed to demonstrate that the information at issue was confidential under the Texas Homeland Security Act,” according to the report.
In response, the city of Fort Worth has filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General with the Travis County District Court, hoping a judge will rule that the information can remain confidential and continue to be withheld, according to the report.
“There are certain tactics that officers use that we don’t necessarily want everyone, specifically criminals, to know about,” Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes told the Fort Worth Report.
The Fort Worth City Council is expected to ratify the lawsuit at a Jan. 23 meeting.
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