Looking at the 'hero'
I spent Wednesday writing about a lawsuit filed against Ogden police officer Ken Hammond. At one point, I added this line to the article.
Shortly after the Trolley Square shootings, the city of Ogden, in answering a records request from The Tribune, said it had no records of discipline against Hammond.
That's right. While everyone else, including my own newspaper, was referring to Hammond as a "hero," I tried to find out if he had ever screwed up.
Discipline records are public records under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act. Ogden was a little slow to respond, but eventually told me it had no records of discipline against Hammond; i.e. he had not been disciplined.
It's not that I wanted to just dig dirt on Hammond. I just wanted a more-complete picture of him.
That 1 1/2-year-old request now may be in Hammond's favor. It rebuts plaintiffs attorneys' claims there have been prior misconduct problems with Hammond.
— NC
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