The Connecticut Freedom of Information Act has guaranteed public access to grisly crime-scene photos for years, yet there is no record of any being published, including from high-profile crimes such as the Cheshire home invasion.
Dan Klau, the president of the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government, argues in an interesting piece that a legislative task force’s current review of FOI laws in light of fears expressed by the Sandy Hook families is a solution in search of a problem.
“Why do I describe the Task Force as seeking a solution to a non-existent problem?” Klau writes. “Because although graphic crime scene photographs of victims, including homicide victims, have long been subject to disclosure under the FOIA, I can’t find a single instance in our state of such a photograph being disclosed to the public pursuant to an FOIA request and then being published in a newspaper or on the Internet.”