Southern Legal Counsel wins public records case against Pasco County Sheriff

In an important victory for government transparency and civil rights, the Florida Second District Court of Appeal ruled May 21 that the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office violated state public records law by refusing to release documents related to a controversial predictive policing program.

Southern Legal Counsel led the lawsuit, with co-counsel from Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, on behalf of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida (CAIR). Begun in 2011, Pasco County’s predictive policing program gained national scrutiny following investigative reports in the Tampa Bay Times. It had operated with little public oversight until SLC and co-counsel brought the legal challenge on CAIR’s behalf.

The records at issue involved the Pasco Sheriff’s Office’s since-discontinued “Intelligence Led Policing” program, which flagged individuals—including minors it deemed “at-risk”—as potential future offenders based on factors like grades, school discipline, and adverse childhood experiences. One of the stated goals of the program, according to the program’s manual, was to  “focus law enforcement on problem people, problem places, and problem groups" and make them “feel the pressure.”

After the Pasco Sheriff’s Office repeatedly rejected CAIR’s requests for data—despite the requests only asking for de-identified information—SLC stepped in to enforce Florida’s Public Records Act.

The appellate court found that Pasco County Sheriff Christopher Nocco, acting in his official capacity, had no legal basis to withhold the requested information. According to the ruling, his agency was required to produce public records with any exempt material redacted, rather than refusing disclosure outright. By failing to do so, the court concluded, the PSO unlawfully withheld records and must now pay attorneys’ fees.

“It is certainly possible that portions of the records CAIR requested fell within confidentiality protections,” the ruling stated. “But the PSO refused to provide any of the requested records, redacted or otherwise.”

The victory is especially meaningful given the nature of the records—data that revealed how students and residents were monitored and labeled by law enforcement in spite of having no prior criminal convictions. 

SLC attorney Dan Marshall, lead counsel in the case, said the ruling is an affirmation of the public’s right to access government records.  

“When government agencies—especially law enforcement agencies that have immense power over people’s lives—refuse to comply with public records laws, it threatens not only transparency and public trust, but everyone’s civil rights,” Marshall said. “The impact of this win will go far beyond Pasco County in that it strengthens established precedent.”