By Jeffrey A. Roberts
CFOIC Executive Director
In a letter to a lawyer for 9NEWS and Colorado Public Radio, Weld County defended a sheriff’s office requirement that records request forms be notarized.
“The unfortunate reality, as we have explained to your clients before, is that the WCSO needs to make policy that prevents bad actors from misusing our criminal justice records,” wrote Matthew Conroy, assistant Weld County attorney. “This will inevitably cause some inconvenience to good actors, but the law requires no less from us.”
He added that the notarization policy was instituted in 2023 to “lessen the burden” on requesters, whom the agency previously required to appear in person with identification to submit requests under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act (CCJRA). Now, the sheriff’s office allows online requests so long as requesters provide a notarized affirmation that they will not use the information for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain.
Conroy sent the letter in response to a letter Sheriff Steve Reams received in December from Madison Schaefer of the Killmer Lane law firm on behalf of the two news organizations. Schaefer, a board member of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, wrote that the notarization requirement “creates an arbitrary and unreasonable hurdle” and “does not serve any legitimate government interest.” She asked the sheriff’s office to halt what she called “an erroneous policy which contravenes the statutory intent and purpose” of the CCJRA.
Under the statute, anyone seeking access to records of official action and criminal justice records must sign a statement affirming they will not use the records for “the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain,” such as finding customers for a business venture. But the law says nothing about getting that statement notarized, nor is there language in the CCJRA that makes requesters show a photo ID. (The Colorado Open Records Act expressly bars ID requirements unless the records are confidential or available only to a “person in interest.”)
Other than the Weld County and Eagle County sheriff’s offices, CFOIC has heard of no other law enforcement agencies in Colorado that require notarization of records request forms.
“As is common for legally binding affirmations, requiring this to be acknowledged in front of a notary gives us confidence that the individual who signed the document is who they say they are and did in fact execute the document,” Conroy’s letter says. “It is hard to fathom how the gossamer thread of notarizing a signature ever causes an undue burden for any given request. Of course there are other ways to authenticate, but notarization is the one that most easily allows the Weld County Sheriff’s Office to provide records to the broadest number of people while not interfering with the Sheriff’s primary duty of keeping the peace in Weld County.”
But Schaefer’s December letter to the sheriff says the notarization policy “does not serve any legitimate government interest: a signature affirming the requestor’s compliance with C.R.S. § 24-72-303.5 is a sufficient enforcement mechanism for the County to prosecute statutory noncompliance.”
A prosecutor “could authenticate the signature just like any other evidence under Colorado Rule of Evidence 901 — by presenting evidence sufficient to support a finding that the signature is what it purports to be,” her letter adds. By requiring notarization of records requests, the sheriff’s office “abuses its discretion under the CCJRA.”
Conroy’s letter adds that the sheriff’s office will accept a single notarized statement once a year from a news organization that “would cover the requests of any employees. We enforce this policy by looking at the email address included with the request. For example, once we have a signed, notarized statement from 9News that the records provided in a response to a request submitted by an employee of 9News will not be used for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain, we would not require any signed, notarized statements from anyone with an “@9News.com” email address for a year.”
Follow the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition on X and Bluesky. Like CFOIC’s Facebook page. Do you appreciate the information and resources provided by CFOIC? Please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
