HIPAA Isn't An Ohio Public Records Exemption!

Ohio Public Records Briefing - Issue #18

So many emotions as our little publication is now legal to vote! And just in time for election season!

Fun Fact

An exception buried in the Ohio Revised Code lets police departments withhold any public records that depict a victim of a sexually oriented offense in a way that would be an offensive or objectionable intrusion into the victim’s bodily privacy. This covers evidence in crimes that is “offensive” but not so much so that it couldn’t be released.

This exception, found in R.C. 149.43 (A)(1)(ii), eliminates any possibility of evidence of a crime needing to be released as part of a public records request. Examples include photos taken during the completion of a rape kit or a Ring doorbell camera of a woman on the street having her halter top ripped off by a passing pervert. (NOTE: a few of us on staff went to see John Mayer in concert and the Passing Perverts opened for him. Mostly Sex Pistols and Michael Jackson covers.)