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Opinion

Opinion By: Daniel Cameron, Attorney General; Matthew Ray, Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Decision

On August 19, 2021, Art Anderson ("Appellant") asked KSP for a copy of the "officer's report dated on or about [the] 14th day of August 2021" regarding a specific reference number. 1On September 20, 2021, having received no response from KSP, this appeal followed.

Under KRS 61.880(1), when a public agency receives a request under the Act it "shall determine within five (5) [business] days . . . after the receipt of any such request whether to comply with the request and shall notify in writing the person making the request, within the five (5) day period, of its decision." However, on appeal, KSP claims that its response was not untimely because it cannot find a record of ever receiving the Appellant's request. This Office has historically found that it is unable to resolve factual disputes between a requester and a public agency about whether an agency has received a request to inspect records. See , 21-ORD-163. Under these facts, this Office is unable to find that KSP received the Appellant's request yet failed to timely respond. Accordingly, this Office cannot find that KSP violated of the Act. 2

A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General shall be notified of any action in circuit court but shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceedings.

Footnotes

Footnotes

LLM Summary
The decision addresses an appeal by Art Anderson who did not receive a response from the Kentucky State Police (KSP) regarding his open records request. The KSP claimed it never received the request. The Attorney General's office, citing precedent, stated it cannot resolve factual disputes about whether an agency received a request. Consequently, the office could not determine that KSP violated the Open Records Act by not responding to the request.
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Requested By:
Art Anderson
Agency:
Kentucky State Police
Type:
Open Records Decision
Lexis Citation:
2021 KY. AG LEXIS 201
Cites:
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