When new officials took on the oversight of Arkansas law enforcement officers under Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders early this year, they made keeping bad cops off the street a focus.
They said they adopted new processes and safeguards intended to prevent problem officers from hopping from department to department and have even looked at individuals who may have slipped through the cracks in the past.
But Arkansas remains one of 15 states that keep the identities of its officers private, making public oversight near impossible.
The Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training denied several Advocate public records requests for data from its database of certified law enforcement officers in the state.
The database containing names and information about all Arkansas officers also has private information that is exempt from disclosure, according to commission officials.
Further, spokespeople and attorneys at the agency said that disclosing the names of all the state’s officers could lead to the identification of those working undercover.
Meanwhile, more than 30 other states have made redactions or organized officer certification data in a way that it can be released to a group of news organizations across the U.S. — including Arkansas’ neighbors Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri.