Ross police report should be public

Ross residents footed the bill for a $40,000 consultant’s report that examined conflicts within the township police department, and they should have access to the document. Township commissioners should stop trying to block the release of the report and share the information it contains.

Several months ago, commissioners hired Ronald Smeal, a police management consultant, to look into conflicts between officers and leadership of the police department, as well as into perceived conflict between the department and the public.

A final report was provided to the commissioners in April, but not made public. Township resident Frank Colucci filed a request with the state’s Office of Open Records (OOR), contending that the report should be public under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

While the township maintained that the report was a noncriminal investigation and not subject to Right-to-Know regulations, the OOR ruled in July that the report should be released.

The OOR said in its ruling that the township “presented no evidence that the investigation uncovered any specific violation(s) or was undertaken in response to a particular incident” and the township did not meet its burden of proof as to why it should not be released.

The township has since appealed the OOR decision to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Now, township residents will ultimately pay not only for the initial production of the report, but for the legal efforts by the township commissioners to suppress its contents.

There are obvious problems within the township police department. Commission President Dan DeMarco said the conflicts include social media postings, the filing of grievances over issues that could be resolved in other ways and overall communication. The chair of the public safety committee, a retired law enforcement officer, met with the police chief and police union officials more than 20 times in 18 months to help resolve conflicts.

The issues within the police department can impact how officers do their jobs and how matters involving the public are handled. And the public deserves to know what the issues are and how the township commissioners intend to deal with them.

The commissioners should reverse course and release the report to the public. It’s simply the right, and fiscally sound, thing to do.