Ferguson Charges Thousands for Access to Public Records

Ferguson, Missouri, isn’t just 
shaking down its residents for cash. The Associated
Press
reports that, in an attempt to
stymie investigations, the city
has also been charging journalists exorbitant fees for access to
public records:

Bureaucrats in Ferguson, Missouri, responding to requests…to
turn over government files about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old
Michael Brown, are charging nearly 10 times the cost of some of
their own employees’ salaries before they will agree to release any
records.

Under Missouri open records law, government records can be
released for free—provided the government has “determined the
material was in the public’s interest to see.” Otherwise, a
“reasonable” fee can be levied.

The ever-nebulous public interest is in the eye of the
bureaucratic beholder, however. The AP asked for a fee waiver for
its records request of the Brown shooting and the aftermath, citing
the public’s interest. The city politely declined and demanded a
fee for its services:

Ferguson told the AP it wanted nearly $2,000 to pay a consulting
firm for up to 16 hours of work to retrieve messages on its own
email system.

Definitions of “public interest” aside, that’s a lot of money
for a little copying and pasting.

The AP is not the only news organization slapped with what the
city has deemed to be “reasonable” fees:

Organizations like the website Buzzfeed were told they’d have to
pay unspecified thousands of dollars for emails and memos about
Ferguson’s traffic-citation policies and changes to local
elections. The Washington Post said Ferguson wanted no less than
$200 for its requests.

As the AP notes, jacking up costs is a favorite government
tactic to discourage inquisitive journalists—while allowing the
government to maintain a superficial commitment to
transparency.

But reticent government gatekeepers are not the only offenders
of raising the costs of compliance:
Regulators and
busybodies of all stripes routinely hike charges in order to
curb undesirable activities without going
the unpopular or illegal route of prohibiting these activities
outright.