Mauldin officials release record on police officer discipline

UPDATE, 4:40 p.m. April 30: The city of Mauldin released a prepared statement late Friday afternoon, along with the document requested by The Greenville News.

UPDATE, 3 p.m. April 30: As of Friday afternoon, Mauldin has not released the document to The Greenville News.

UPDATE, 3 p.m. April 28: Mauldin City Attorney John Duggan has indicated the city is working to comply with The Greenville News request and release the discipline report.

Original story: City officials in Mauldin are refusing to release a readily available public record about police officer discipline.

The Greenville News first sought the discipline record April 20, after the officer who is the subject of it was discussed during a news conference held by Upstate Black Lives Matter activists.

Activists Derrick Quarles and Bruce Wilson distributed copies of a 2019 reprimand at that news conference, alleging that a police officer used a "racial slur" while at a Mauldin High School football game. Quarles and Wilson have called for the officer's firing.

Quarles and Wilson received a copy of the officer's reprimand months after filing a Freedom of Information request for it, they said. The Greenville News received a copy of the reprimand from the activists and requested the document from the city in order to verify the information. The Greenville News asked for a copy of the document from Mauldin on April 20, in an effort to determine the authenticity of the reprimand record.

The same record that was provided to them should be easily accessible to others, according to South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act.

"It is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that citizens shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of the decisions that are reached in public activity and in the formulation of public policy," the law states.

The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act must be "construed so as to make it possible for citizens, or their representatives, to learn and report fully the activities of their public officials at a minimum cost or delay to the persons seeking access to public documents or meetings," the law states.

The Greenville News has made multiple requests to city officials for the reprimand record since last week. Those requests have been made through emails, phone calls, in-person visits to Mauldin City Hall, and through an attorney. Requests for the record have gone to the Mauldin Police Department and a number of city staff members, including City Administrator Brandon Madden, City Clerk Cindy Miller and Mark Putnam, the director of human resources.

To date, the reprimand record has not been provided to The Greenville News.

"We believe that by not releasing this document, the city of Mauldin is violating at least the spirit of South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act," said Steve Bruss, the executive editor of The Greenville News. "Because the city has already released this document to another party through FOIA, there's no need to determine whether it's a public record and because of that, it should be released immediately upon request.

"The people of Mauldin and residents of South Carolina should expect complete transparency from their elected and appointed officials and there's no part of FOIA that permits a government body to be selective about who receives a document and when they receive it," Bruss said. "FOIA is clear that documents should be released in the shortest possible time and it's clear in this case that this is a public record. It's been released already. There's no need to withhold it from anyone who comes in and asks for it."

On the same date that the newspaper requested the reprimand record from the city, The Greenville News also requested the officer's record from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. That request was fulfilled in a matter of hours. 

Even before the newspaper's request for the city's reprimand record, months passed before the document was provided in response to a separate Freedom of Information request, according to Quarles and Wilson. They said they filed a request for all records related to the 2019 officer incident in November of last year and did not receive the reprimand until April. South Carolina's Freedom of Information law requires that public records be provided within 30 calendar days of when a determination is made that a request will be fulfilled.

"I believe the city of Mauldin has some serious questions to answer for," Wilson said.

Bill Rogers, the executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, said the reprimand record should be released to the newspaper.

"The public needs to see this," he said. "It's already been released to some people; it should be released to all the people."

Nikie Mayo is an investigative reporter for The Greenville News. Follow her on Twitter @NikieMayo and reach her at nmayo@gannett.com.