Having trouble finding out about a murder or an aggravated assault on the Dallas Police Department’s Web site? The Dallas Morning News says that is not an accident. A document obtained through open records laws indicates the city instructed the software vendor to make it more difficult–a decision the city now will reverse.
“I’m still confused about what exactly happened and who made the decision,” said Police Chief David Kunkle. “My position has always been that as much as you can, we should have online access to any information that we know is going to fall under open records,” he said. “I want people to have an interest in making neighborhoods safer.” As a result of inquiries from the Morning News, police and city communications and information services officials met yesterdayrs and decided to restore the missing categories of serious to an easy-to-use drop-down menu for public access.