Jacksonville police: Amendment limiting release of certain crime information

A new amendment could impact what information families receive about crimes in their neighborhood.

It’s part of Marsy’s law, which the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said restricts police from providing certain victim information or saying where a crime occurred, if it happened at the victim’s residence.

Voters passed Amendment 6 last fall.

Proponents say it better protects victims' rights.

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At Monday night’s ICARE Nehemiah Assembly, Action News Jax asked JSO Sheriff Mike Williams about the amendment’s implementation, and any community concerns about transparency.

“I think sometimes the transparency is outweighed by the concern of the victim and you have to remember that in this equation, so that victim information should be protected, I believe,” Williams said.  “Does that include some other hurdles for us? It may, but I think we’ll have to work through that.”

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JSO transparency page used to list the names of homicide victims.  Now it states “record exempt” where the names used to be.

The Action News Jax newsroom noticed the changes and previously reached out to JSO.

Monday morning, Public Information Officer Melissa Bujeda sent us the full amendment and said in part: “…our agency has looked at this thoroughly and at this time until legislation provides uniformity on how this is to be handled, the proper steps will be taken so we are in compliance with the amendment.”

Cox Media Group