LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas House has given final legislative approval to a bill allowing the police agency patrolling the state Capitol to keep information about officers private and passed and sent back to the Senate a bill allowing secrecy among police at state colleges and universities.
The bills were presented Tuesday as ways to keep security plans under wraps. Their language says, however, that agencies could keep “records or other information” about their forces out of the public eye.
Rep. Stephen Meeks asked House members to reject the bill dealing with safety plans at colleges and K-12 schools, saying he fears a situation in which “the fox is guarding the henhouse,” with legislators unable to intervene.
Separately, a Freedom of Information Act exemption for security details at the governor’s mansion passed the Senate.
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