F25-03

Posted on Feb 28, 2025 in Formal Opinions

Opinion F25-03
February 28, 2025
Reasonable Search for Records; Employee Medical Records

A record requester (Requester) sought copies of an officer’s disciplinary and medical records from the Honolulu Police Department (HPD).  HPD denied the record request, asserting that it had performed a search for records responsive to the request for disciplinary records and did not find records responsive to the request, and that disclosing the medical records would result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.  OIP found that HPD conducted a reasonable search for records responsive to the request for the officer’s disciplinary records by looking for the records in the places most likely to contain such records; and concluded that HPD’s response that it does not maintain records responsive to that part of the record request was proper under the UIPA.

Regarding the medical records, OIP found that a specific portion of the responsive records withheld by HPD was also “about” Requester, and therefore a joint “personal record” of Requester and the officer that must be analyzed under part III of the UIPA.  OIP concluded that the exemptions to disclosure of personal records did not apply to that specific portion of the responsive records, and the portion of the records that was also “about” Requester must be disclosed to Requester.  OIP also found that for the remainder of the responsive records, on balance, the officer’s privacy interest in his medical records exceeded the public’s interest in disclosure.  OIP concluded that HPD properly withheld the records under the UIPA’s privacy exception, section 92F-13(1), Hawaii Revised Statutes, with the exception of one page of the responsive records that contained only general information.  OIP also found that the information in which the officer held a privacy interest was not reasonably segregable from the records responsive to the request, so apart from that specific page, which must be disclosed, HPD properly withheld the remainder of the records.

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