Judge Orders Nashville Police to Improve Availability of Accident Reports

A judge has ordered that the Metropolitan Nashville Police make accident reports available to inspection within three days of the end of the shift of the officer who created the report.

The Davidson County Chancery Court ruling entered by Senior Judge Robert E. Lee Davis last month said the department’s policy of immediately producing only up to three accident reports was “arbitrary” and contrary to Tennessee’s open records law.

According to the ruling, the redacted accident reports were made available in their entirety until a policy change in 2014 that required forms to be filled out to request each document.

While the department returned to old policy in May of making the reports available for public inspection, they are often two to three weeks behind the date of the incident.