When we made a request under state public records law for a copy of the report, the Police Bureau denied it. We appealed the denial to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, which agreed with us but allowed the police to black out portions of the report dealing with strengths and weaknesses of the new and older weapons, because police argued that those details might impinge on officer safety. The real kick in the pants, however, came when the cops said they would charge us for a copy of the blacked-out report. The bill came to $128 and paid for the three hours a sergeant spent blacking out the top-secret information. Although this won't break the bank for WW, it would certainly be out of the reach of most ordinary citizens. We're still not sure whether the superiority of the AR-15 warrants a $314,000 expenditure. It's clear, however, that the police have forgotten what their mission is: to serve the citizens who pay their salaries.
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