A new lawsuit questions whether the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission’s internal financial and policy information should be public record.
The Marshall Project, an online criminal justice reporting outlet, is suing MSCC after it declined to release a bevy of requested documents and emails journalists wanted to reference in their reporting.
The Marshall Project is investigating a $6 million pool of money used by the City of Memphis to recruit and retain police officers. It’s funded by the MSCC, a non-profit that helps craft public safety policy. According to the Marshall Project, the commission initially refused to disclose the fund’s donors. It has since released names, listing large Memphis companies like FedEx and International Paper. But the commission considers other information, such as the amounts of the donations, to be confidential.
Adam Marshall, a lawyer with the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press who is representing the Marshall Project, says the public has a right to know more about the fund.
“The MSCC is acting as a functional equivalent of a government agency,” he said. “And therefore, its records, like any other state or local government entity in Tennessee, are subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act.”
The Tennessee Public Records Act is routinely used by journalists to obtain government documents.
The suit—jointly filed with local journalist Wendi C. Thomas, founder of the MLK50 reporting project—also requests a body of commission files and emails referencing other grants made to the city, as well as communications with elected officials.
In a statement, the commission called itself a privately-funded nonprofit corporation with no government authority and therefore not subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act.
Marshall, the lawyer, disagrees. He argues that MSCC’s role—advising on crime reduction strategy and funding city initiatives—is government-related and the organization should be accountable to the public.
"We're talking about public safety and law enforcement policy. It's something that affects members of the community all the time," Marshall said. "The public both expects and deserves for there to be democratic oversight in how that happens."