According to a study conducted by the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, 30 percent of public-records requests are not carried out correctly in Wisconsin.
The organizations performed a public records audit that found 10 percent of requests were completely denied or ignored while another 20 percent were fulfilled only after local officials demanded identification or explanation from the requesters, a violation of freedom of information laws.
The study employed journalists and citizens from counties across Wisconsin to request basic documents such as jail booking logs of county sheriff's offices and emails from mayors and city administrators.
Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said in a statement these problems acquiring basic documents are disappointing.
The statewide compliance rate for providing this information should have been 100 percent,"" Lueders said.
Jason Shepard, a graduate student in the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, coordinated the audit because of his belief in the importance of public records law for journalists and other civilians.
""[Public records law] is really a crucial tool to make sure that public officials are honest and accountable,"" Shepard said.
Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said units of government in Wisconsin must follow this law more carefully.
""[Wisconsin has] a reputation of having some of the strongest open records laws '¦ in the country. But those laws aren't worth much if they're not being followed by public officials,"" McCabe said.
Shepard said although there are some cases in which it seems public officials went out of their way to place hurdles to access public documents, most of the problems were caused by records custodians' ignorance of open records laws.
""The study shows that training of local officials about public records law continues to be important,"" Shepard said.
