Complainant alleged that the Department of Public Safety ("DPS") violated the Access to Public Records Act ("APRA") when it: 1) denied a February 21, 2014 APRA request seeking a Bureau of Criminal Identification ("BCI") record for a particular individual; 2) that the DPS violated R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-3(b) when it failed to provide a reasonable segregable BCI report; and 3) that the DPS violated R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-3(b) when it exempted the entire BCI record from disclosure, yet failed to "state in writing that no portion of the document or record contains reasonable segregable information that is releasable." This Department's prior findings, as well as the language of R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-1-4, make clear that BCI records for named individuals are "confidential," nothing within R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-1-4 suggests that a law enforcement agency may provide a redacted BCI report, and confirming (or refuting) that a particular individual either does or does not have a BCI record implicates the very interests protected by R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-1-4. Accordingly, this Department found no violations.
