Why Does it Take So Long for Public Information to be Made Public?
By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
November 7, 2026
BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. Why does it seem like it takes so long for law enforcement agencies to report the facts when an officer is involved?
It’s a question asked often, nationwide as well as in our own community.
But the answer most of the time is not as simple as one might think.
First, one must consider if the act that the law enforcement officer or other public safety employee is being accused of or has been involved in, is an employment matter or is it a civil or criminal incident.
As with any employee situation, most personnel matters are private, and no company or public safety agency is required to release personnel records unless the person is being accused of a criminal matter or named in a civil lawsuit where the person’s personnel file might be relevant to the case.
When a law enforcement officer has been involved in a traffic collision or some other on-duty matter such as the use of force, most often, there are two different and sometimes even three types of investigations that may occur simultaneously.
Mainly, the two consist of a criminal investigation and an employment investigation. One looks at possible criminal wrongdoing where the officer could be prosecuted and the other is very similar to any other business that reviews if their employee violated company rules, regulations, or protocols and what, if any, disciplinary actions might be taken including termination.
Depending on the circumstances, police may call in a separate law enforcement department to oversee any criminal investigation. Usually, that agency will be a county or state law enforcement agency and once their investigation is complete, it is submitted to the chief of the department and if possible criminal prosecution is recommended, it will usually be forward to the District Attorney’s office for further review regarding any criminal charges.
As with any business, the public safety agency, be it law enforcement or a fire department or EMS agency, must run multiple parallel investigations all at the same time, conducting interviews, reviewing scene photos, videos and statements before they can release any information to the public.
Yes, it is a slow process and yes, it may seem at times like a public agency might be slow rolling their responses to the public but most of the time, it’s the process that takes a long time before information can be released.
Employees working for a private company or a public agency have certain legal rights and expectations of privacy and employers have to be sure that before releasing personnel information that they have all of the facts correct.
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