Florida State suspended a backup quarterback, freshman De'Andre Johnson, on Thursday, with ESPN reporting he allegedly punched a woman at a bar. A detail that especially concerned many was the following:
A Tallahassee Police Department spokesman sent a heavily redacted incident report to ESPN.com on Thursday. The incident report redacted the alleged suspect's name and a witness' name. The woman's name was not redacted.
The police report distributed to media shows the alleged victim's full name, home phone, address, birth date, sex and race. The only unredacted information on the suspect and witness: race, sex and age or estimated age.
TPD redacting this particular information drew immediate criticism, in light of media investigations into the department's handling of allegations against former star Jameis Winston. But is this a matter of policy in this type of case? (It's important to note here that Johnson has not been arrested.)
"Anything that is considered active criminal investigation is redacted," said a Tallahassee Police records official on the phone Friday morning. "If the suspect has not been charged with a crime at this time, it's redacted and then the Criminal Investigations Department is following up with it. If that person ever becomes charged, then it becomes public record. Obviously, a witness name is not gonna be released, because what they can provide is still part of an active criminal investigation."
So why list the alleged victim's name?
"Victim's names are not exempt from public records law," the official said, unless it's a case involving sexual violence.
The state of Florida has particularly open records laws. A victim's personal information "is always subject to disclosure unless some other specific exemption applies," according to the office of the Florida attorney general.
A separate law enforcement source said that releasing an alleged victim's personal information in such a case and with a recent history of scrutiny on the department's handling of similar cases would make him "uneasy," but it's apparent that doing so would've meant TPD making up its own rule.