In a 7-0 decision announced today, the Supreme Court of Ohio denied a writ sought by the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper to compel Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig to provide the paper with information from the personnel files of two city police officers who were wounded in a September 2010 gunfight with members of the Iron Horsemen motorcycle gang. State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Craig, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-1999.
The identities of the wounded police officers would place them at the risk of serious bodily harm and possibly even death from a perceived likely threat and that the disclosure of their identities was not narrowly tailored to achieve the public purpose of examining the performance of the police. Therefore, the court of appeals correctly held that the requested names of the wounded police officers were protected from disclosure under R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(v) by the constitutional right of privacy.”