(CBS) — A west suburban police chief’s plan to start tweeting the names of those arrested for DUI is on hold for the moment. An update from WBBM’s Regine Schlesinger.
Chief Tom Weitzel of Riverside says he’s astonished by the reaction he’s gotten: a flood of emails, about half of them, opposed to the idea. “A lot of them are saying ‘You know, Chief, you probably have the right to do it because the news media prints it and the news media prints more. But, we don’t think the police department should be taking an active role in voluntarily releasing the information to the public.’”
The information he would tweet, says Weitzel, is all publicly accessible, anyway. But, for now, he’s holding off tweeting offenders’ names, pending a legal opinion he’s requested from the Attorney General.
Chief Weitzel says he constantly hears constituents asking for open, transparent government but, apparently there’s a limit to how transparent and open some citizens want their government.
