Published: March 19, 2008 11:11 am      

Public's access to records limited

A recent ruling by the state Supreme Court would limit access to public records online. This is just one more step to closing all government records to the public.

Oklahoma’s Supreme Court justices said the move was made as an attempt to prevent identity theft. However, how long will it be before government officials decide to deny access to all records to the public?

Journalists routinely use www.oscn.net or www.odcr.com to keep watch on lawsuits, criminal cases, briefs, motions, rulings and other documents from district courts and appellate courts. Before court records were made available on the Internet, anyone interested in these court records was required to make a trip to the courthouse. Sometimes those trips to courthouses were at great expense to the individual.

By limiting access to these records, there are more opportunities for corruption. Anyone who wants to “hide” arrests for anything from public drunk to murder would be less likely to have their crimes made public if those court records were available online.

Journalists pursuing a story use details in court documents to verify accuracy in their work. They are not the only ones to use these records. Lawyers, private investigators, law enforcement officers and genealogists find birth dates from court documents a key method of verifying their research.

Court records online were a step in the right direction in moving Oklahoma forward. Removing access to those same records will hinder the state’s technological abilities.

The Supreme Court justices should rethink their decision to deny online access to court records. It is not the best interest for Oklahoma’s general public.