The Indiana Publisher

led to the police chief's resigna- tion and prompted the mayor to seek an independent review of the department's policies and practices. Almost a year after the two Elkhart policemen were captured on video beating a handcuffed man in the face more than 10 times — a video that became public only after Sheckler and Armstrong began investigating — authorities charged the two officers with battery. In early 2018, the two journalists already had begun looking into problems with the Indiana city police department's handling of criminal investiga- tions when Sheckler heard that two officers were disciplined for excessive use of force during a separate incident. He decided to check it out. He asked to see the officers' personnel files and for other records, including the police department's video of the incident, which took place in a police station detention center. As is often the case when requesting records, Sheckler said he was not sure what they would show. He knew, though, that reviewing different kinds of records connected to the same incident would help him get a fuller understanding of what happened and how it was handled by the city. What Sheckler and Armstrong discovered in those records helped them demonstrate that some Elkhart officers were not being appropriately disciplined. "If we hadn't asked for that video, first of all, these two officers wouldn't have been charged with battery for punching this handcuffed person because decisionmakers probably wouldn't have been aware this happened," Sheckler told Journalist's Resource. "The public wouldn't have been able to see exactly what had happened. There was a very, very strong reaction in the community about what the video showed." The investigative series was chosen recently as a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, awarded annually by Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, which is where Journalist's Resource is housed. Armstrong and Sheckler were able to team up for this project thanks to a new program offered by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on investi- gative journalism. The South Bend Tribune applied for a spot in ProPublica's inaugural Local Reporting Network. Of the 239 news organizations that applied, seven were selected in late 2017. The program provides news- rooms with significant assistance. Not only does ProPublica reimburse news organizations for a year of salary and benefits for each reporter who participates, ProPublica also volunteers its own people and resources to help out. Sheckler, a journalist for about eight years, reported out stories from Elkhart while Armstrong, a Pulitzer Prize winner who has covered criminal justice issues for three decades, assisted from his home in Seattle. The power of public records The series was built largely on public records, allowing Sheckler and Armstrong to tell stories even when some of the people involved refused to be interviewed or speak on certain subjects. For this kind of journalism, Armstrong said it's critical that reporters know the public records laws governing the various government agencies in their state, including how records requests must be written. "In Indiana, you can't just ask for a public official's emails and say 'Give me all emails that mention this or that term,'" Armstrong explained. "They set parameters in terms of how far back [you can acquire records] and what the question has to bore in on. They have a public access counselor in Indiana to appeal to if you feel you've been wrongly denied records. He [Sheckler] understood that and used it well." Not only did Sheckler seek help from Indiana's public access counselor — a governor-appoint- ed attorney who provides the public with advice and assistance accessing public information — but he and Armstrong also decided to report on the chal- lenges they faced getting records. They encountered so many challenges that they wrote a whole article focusing on public officials' attempts to delay, discourage and bar their access. At one point, a judge issued orders blocking access to all police reports in three court files as well as exhibits shown to jurors and legal briefs that had been filed on appeal. Sheckler and Armstrong wrote in an article published in August 2018 that the orders "in effect, prevented reporters and the public from seeing evidence used to convict the defendants, as well as the arguments raised afterward about whether the trials had been just." Indiana's public access counselor issued an opinion stating that the judge should have released the police reports and appellate briefs, the journalists reported. An administrator for the Indiana Supreme Court advised the judge that the exhibits used at trial should be public. Afterward, the judge released some, but not all of the documents the reporters sought. The judge did not respond to a separate request to hear a taped recording of a trial held in 1997, which, under state law, is a public record. Sheckler and Armstrong were forced to find another way to get that information. They tracked down a court reporter and ordered a transcript made, for which the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica had to pay $1,000. Armstrong said reporting about these challenges is a way to hold government agencies accountable while also making the public aware that records they should be able to easily obtain are sometimes withheld. "I am a huge advocate of letting readers know about the difficulties getting records that the public is allowed to see," he said. "I think that's important. It speaks to an agency's culture. It speaks to an agency's practices. It is also important to let the public know why records are important to them." Tips for journalists Sheckler and Armstrong offered these five tips to help journalists interested in develop- ing or improving their investiga- tive reporting skills: 1. Remember that the most useful public records might be audio and video recordings. "Think of different types of records, different steps along the way where there might be a record made that is relevant," Sheckler advised. As part of his investigation, he obtained the minutes of meetings held by the city's civilian oversight board because he wanted to know more about how police officer miscon- duct is handled in Elkhart. During meetings of the board, the police chief typically explains what disciplinary action he intends to pursue for an officer and why. Sheckler said the meeting minutes did not contain enough detail so he requested audio recordings. Surprisingly, he Page 11 March 2019 Records Continued from Page 1 Scheckler Armstrong

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