ACLU Sues Brown University Police for Refusing to Provide Arrest Records to Journalists
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ACLU Sues Brown University Police for Refusing to Provide Arrest Records to Journalists
ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Fausto Anguilla filed the suit in Rhode Island Superior Court against Brown University’s Department of Public Safety (BDPS) on behalf of two journalists after BDPS "refused to provide them reports of arrests made by BDPS officers."
The suit argues that BDPS, with state-authorized police powers, clearly fits within APRA’s definition of an “agency” covered by that law.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“It is shocking that a police department would claim that it can keep secret its records relating to the arrests of individuals," said Steven Brown, ACLU of RI Executive Director. "This lawsuit involves fundamental matters of public transparency and accountability.”
Journalists Denied Records Requests
According to the ACLU, In 2022, Noble Brigham, who was then a Brown Daily Herald reporter, was investigating the story of a man who had been charged multiple times by BDPS with trespassing and breaking and entering on the Brown campus.
Brigham submitted an APRA request for the arrest reports, which was initially ignored by BDPS, says the ACLU.
When the Department ultimately did respond, it was to assert that APRA didn’t apply because "Brown is a private university and BDPS was not subject to that law."
Then in 2023, Motif Magazine reporter Michael Bilow was reporting on 41 Brown University students who were arrested by BDPS officers for trespassing after protesting university investment practices and refusing to leave a university building after hours.
When Bilow filed an APRA request for the arrest reports, BDPS ignored the request just as it had with Brigham, says the ACLU.
Both Bilow and Brigham independently filed complaints with the Attorney General, who has the authority to investigate APRA violations.
The ACLU says it was not until January of this year that that office issued an opinion on the complaints and took BDPS’s side that it was not subject to APRA, leading to the filing of the lawsuit.
About Suit
Noting that APRA explicitly applies to private agencies that are “acting on behalf of and/or in place of any public agency,” the suit claims that BDPS clearly meets that definition.
The ACLU continues:
The suit notes that “BDPS police officers are sworn law enforcement officers and are explicitly vested with the same powers and authority that are vested in a state or municipal police officer”; they are appointed by the state police superintendent; they are explicitly designated by state law as “peace officers” with the power to arrest people; and, in Brown’s own words on its website, they “have police jurisdiction on campus and upon the streets and highways adjacent to the campus.”
“By engaging in one of the most fundamental functions of government – the enforcement of criminal laws and exercising the power to search and seize individuals – BDPS is acting on behalf of and/or in place of a government agency or public body," states the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment determining that BDPS is a public body within the meaning of APRA and therefore must comply with APRA requests for arrest records and other publicly available law enforcement documents.
The suit also requests a permanent injunction requiring BDPS to provide the records requested by the plaintiffs.
A copy of the complaint can be found here.