EDITORIAL: The sun needs to shine on police too

EDITORIAL: The sun needs to shine on police too Las Vegas Review-Journal September 4, 2026 - 12:26 pm The Nevada Supreme Court recently moved to strengthen accountability by rejecting a Las Vegas police union’s bid to hide the names and badge numbers of officers accused of misconduct. The court’s action came after the union’s attempt to shield those details was deemed an overreach. The lawsuit, first filed in 2023, involved seven officers who had faced allegations of wrongdoing but were later cleared. The union brought the case on behalf of those officers against the Citizens Review Board—an independent oversight body that examines internal affairs investigations and complaints against the Metropolitan Police Department, Clark County, and the City of Las Vegas—seeking to keep the officers’ names and badge numbers from appearing in committee records. Union lawyers contended that the officers’ privacy interests outweighed the public’s right to know and warned that disclosure could endanger officer safety. The court countered that allowing accused officers to hide behind anonymity undermines governmental transparency and lessens the consequences of police misconduct. It asked, if information about possible police wrongdoing does not serve the public interest, then what does? Regarding safety concerns, the Metro Police Department’s own policy requires officers to identify themselves by name and badge number during official duties. The court found it difficult to argue that publishing the same information in public documents poses a threat to the officers involved, and noted that such data is not exempt from the state’s public records law. A district court judge initially dismissed the union’s challenge, and the union appealed to the higher court. A three‑justice panel unanimously upheld the lower court’s decision. Justice Elisa Caddish wrote, “The union has not pointed to any authority that prohibits publishing those names or badge numbers. As to [the union’s] assertion that officers have a nontrivial privacy interest in their names and badge numbers that outweighs the public’s interest in disclosure, we find that it did not allege sufficient facts to support that claim given the mandatory public disclosure of such information by all Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers.” David Roger, the union’s legal counsel and a former Clark County district attorney, said the Las Vegas Police Protective Association may turn to the Legislature for relief. That effort would likely aim to rewrite the state’s public records statute to align with the union’s preferences. Lawmakers should resist that proposal if it arises next year. Sunlight remains the strongest disinfectant, and the Legislature must stand firmly on the side of transparency rather than weaken accountability measures to appease a special interest.