By Rachel Lippmann
St. Louis – The St. Louis Police Department may fight a court ruling to turn over files from an internal investigation into the improper use of 2006 World Series tickets the officers seized from scalpers.
A local activist filed a Sunshine Law request in 2007 to see the documents from the investigation. A judge ordered the department to turn over the records. But the department later revealed there was a separate administrative file they wanted to keep secret, saying it was exempt from the law as a personnel record. The judge ruled Monday the department must turn that file over as well.
Attorneys are reviewing the case, said police chief Dan Isom. But the department's first priority is protecting the officers.
"We're not so opposed to releasing information and being transparent to the public, but those statements that we take, that we compel officers to do as part of their job, we want to protect those statements," he said.
The statements were made under the so-called Garrity rule, which protects officers from criminal prosecution for statements they make while being questioned by superior officers about their performance.
The officers involved did not face any criminal charges, but were suspended for two weeks and demoted.