ARRESTS IN SHELBY

Incident Clouded In Secrecy

What's with the secrecy?

It's common knowledge all over Bolivar County that the Drug
Enforcement Agency raided homes and made some arrests last weekend at Shelby.

Unfortunately most of the talk about the incident is filled with
speculation and rumors. That's because so far the DEA has been
unwilling to discuss the matter.

Clearly such an unusual incident is going to generate a lot of talk,
but when the details aren't clear people who may have had nothing to
do with the incident can find themselves included when the
authorities fail to set the record straight.

The Bolivar Commercial contacted the DEA's office numerous times
Monday only to be told that no one could comment because the public
relations person was not in. Even a simple conformation of who was
arrested or what was seized was out of the question.

On Tuesday the agency again refused to comment. Again the excuse was
that the public relations person was out of town and this time the
person answering the phone at the DEA's Oxford office claimed not to
know when the public relations person would be returning to work.

It seems ridiculous that it would take a public relations agent just
to give the basic facts of an arrest. Surely it doesn't come as a
surprise that the media is interested when law officers raid a small
town and reportedly make major finds. Simply faxing the arrest report
would be adequate.

We do not believe this information can be withheld without
justification. The Mississippi Public Records Act states that public
records are public property and the Mississippi Center for Freedom of
Information's handbook states that arrest records are open to the public.

The only exceptions include instances that would harm the
investigation, reveal informants, disclose investigatory techniques,
deprive a person of a fair trial or endanger the safety of a public
official. If one of these exceptions are the reason for the silence
it wouldn't be difficult to explain it.

Hopefully a formal request for the information citing open records
laws will be enough to shed some light on this situation.