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May 25, 2020
Employer: Minneapolis Police Department Authority: US Citizen Reporters |
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May 25, 2020
Employer: Minneapolis Police Department |
The Minnesota Data Practices Act is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels. Public records are defined as all data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by any government entity regardless of its physical form, storage media or conditions of use.
Anyone may request public records and they are also entitled to have the data explained to them if they don’t understand it. No statement of purpose is required and the only restriction of the use of records is that if a commercial use is intended the government agency may charge an additional fee. There is no response time specified in the Minnesota Data Practices Act.
We the People have a Right to Know according to the Supreme Court of the United States [SCOTUS], past Presidents (of both major political parties), Congress, and the United States Department of Justice. As an expression of that Right to Know, we have coordinated valuable information from a number of resources into a single, public-facing, searchable database.
![Peace Officer Standards & Training [POST] Departments](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-07/Brady.png?itok=xsIFvU8R "Peace Officer Standards & Training [POST] Departments")
![Organizations [Law Enforcement et al.]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-07/Brady%20%282%29.png?itok=H7Pj15F8 "Organizations [Law Enforcement et al.]")
Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly.
- William O. Douglas, Associate Justice (1939 - 1975)Supreme Court of the United States