Sheriff Paul Penzone, I have no doubt you are a believer in the adage that a well-informed public is one of the greatest deterrents to crime. That said, I am extremely distressed MCSO has chosen to bar The Times from access to local police reports for public reporting purposes; a long-established community practice.

While your departmental people may be completely prepared to write criminal reports for record keeping, they fall far short of any reasonable attempt to inform and educate the public. For example, from the past three weeks;: “sex crime other than rape,” “assault,” “criminal damage,” “adult sexual assault” and “indecent exposure” (without time or location given) have been offered as the primary report elements for the local newspaper column. In my view, this kind of reporting raises far more questions than it answers and certainly has little educational value.

As a small, relatively close-knit community, we count on our friends and neighbors being informed about what is happening in town, and reasonable knowledge of criminal activity is certainly one important part. The Times has responsibly and effectively handled this matter on our behalf for over 40 years. Please reverse the policy of restricting reporters’ access to the records for your benefit and ours.