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GARY GLASS v. ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, et al.
Listen to this articleAdministrative law — Maryland Public Information Act — Internal-affairs reports
This appeal follows a series of cases filed by Appellant Gary Glass against Anne Arundel County and several of its employees pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act (“MPIA”), Maryland Code (2014), General Provisions Article (“GP”), § 4-101 et seq. (formerly codified at Maryland Code (1984, 2009 Repl. Vol., 2013 Supp.), State Government Article (“SG”), § 10-611 et seq). A September 4, 2010, traffic stop, during which Officer Mark Collier, an off-duty police officer with the Anne Arundel County Police Department (the “Department”), issued a traffic citation to Mr. Glass, set off a tsunami of litigation. Convinced the officer had no basis to stop him, Mr. Glass initiated an investigation into Officer Collier’s conduct that the Department ultimately determined to be non-sustained. Mr. Glass then initiated a wave of records requests followed by state and federal lawsuits. This specific action concerns a set of MPIA requests that seek disclosure of nearly 10 years’ worth of the Department’s internal affairs (“IA”) investigation reports (“IA reports”) from the Office of Professional Standards. In total, there were 748 records responsive to Mr. Glass’ request. Following the denial of his MPIA requests, Mr. Glass sued Anne Arundel County; Christine Ryder, the police records manager; and Captain Ross Passman, the commander of the Department’s Office of Professional Standards (collectively, the “County”) in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. He asked the court to enter a declaratory judgment, compel disclosure of the documents requested, and award damages. The County filed a motion for summary judgment.
Following a hearing, the circuit court granted the County’s motion for summary judgment and denied Mr. Glass’s motions. Mr. Glass appealed, presenting two questions for our review, which we condense as follows: Did the circuit court err by failing to order a review, redaction, and severing of the IA reports?
