Media and First Amendment attorney Jeffrey Pyle commented on the city of Beverly’s refusal to provide further information about their $3.75 million plan to increase school security. In The Gloucester Daily Times this week, Pyle noted that a post-9/11 exemption to the public records law allows cities and towns to keep quiet on security plans and budgets, but only if the information “could reasonably be expected to pose a threat to public safety.”
According to Pyle, this rule “can’t possibly justify withholding any information about what $4 million is being spent on by the city of Beverly.” He goes on to state that the city could easily share simple information about how the money will be spent without revealing anything that might pose a public safety threat, such as how the system would function or how to disarm it. “Not even the military operates with such secrecy about budget items,” said Pyle. Read more of Pyle’s thoughts in the full article here.