Judge: Details of officer’s dismissal to be released

LITTLE ROCK — The public is entitled to know why the head of enforcement for the state Alcoholic Beverage Control was fired by Arkansas State Police as a recruit 15 years ago, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce ruled Thursday.

His decision nullifies Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s finding the investigation leading to Boyce Hamlet’s dismissal in 2000 from the police recruitment program shouldn’t be publicly disclosed.

“I respectfully disagree with the attorney general on this issue and order the records released,” Pierce said to conclude the hour-long hearing.

State Police critic Russell Racop requested the report from the agency last month under the state Freedom of Information Act.

But the police, acting on Rutledge’s advice, refused to release the records. Racop sued under the open-records law.

The activities of law enforcement officers are of compelling interest to the public because police have a lot of authority and influence in society, Racop told the judge.

The public also has an interest in knowing about the character of the head of a state enforcement agency, he said.

Pierce read the report on Hamlet’s firing during the proceeding and concluded the report touches on issues of honesty and trustworthiness sufficient for public disclosure.

The report wasn’t immediately released because the judge ordered minor redactions to remove the name of another person. Pierce said the report only raises allegations against that individual, but doesn’t show whether he did anything wrong.

The judge was skeptical of the attorney general’s argument there was no compelling public interest in knowing why Hamlet, 40, was fired 15 years ago.

The act of being fired isn’t sufficient grounds by itself to make the records public, the judge said, but since the report on Hamlet’s dismissal involves questions about his character, the records should be open.

Pierce said he might have agreed with the state lawyers if Hamlet didn’t hold a job in law enforcement with the beverage control agency, a division of the Department of Finance and Administration.

Hamlet, a former investigator for Faulkner County Prosecutor Cody Hiland and an ex-parole officer, didn’t attend the hearing.

He declined to comment Thursday, referring questions to department spokesman Jake Bleed, who also declined to comment.

Rutledge’s opinion that denied the release of the records noted they are employee evaluation reports that can only be publicly released in certain circumstances.

The records fail the test for public release on the question of whether they are of compelling public interest, argued Assistant Attorney General Colin Jorgensen on behalf of Rutledge and state police.

Hamlet wasn’t important enough to be of public concern when he was fired in 2000, Jorgensen said.

He was a recruit, not a police officer then, and his termination had nothing to do with public monies or any dealings with the public, Jorgensen said.

All of the legal authority on the state’s open record act says if the records weren’t of public concern when they were created, they can’t be deemed to be of public interest after so much time has passed, Jorgensen told the judge.

“It’s all about that moment in time. If you agree there was no compelling interest then, that has to be the answer always,” he argued.