OCEAN CITY, Md. - A Maryland appellate court has ruled the Town of Ocean City must release certain police use-of-force records, siding in part with The Washington Post in a dispute over public access to law enforcement documents.
The case stems from a 2021 request by The Washington Post under the Maryland Public Information Act seeking records from the Ocean City Police Department related to officer use of force between January 2016 to June 2021, including both basic incident reports and internal reviews conducted after those incidents.
According to the lawsuit, Ocean City provided some records but removed officers’ names and denied access to internal use-of-force reviews, arguing the documents were protected as personnel records and therefore exempt from disclosure. The Post challenged that decision in court in 2023, pointing to “Anton’s Law,” a 2021 Maryland law that expanded public access to police disciplinary and misconduct records.
In its opinion, issued on April 3, 2026, the appellate court found that basic use-of-force reports are not personnel records and must be disclosed under the MPIA. The court said those reports primarily contain factual information about incidents, such as the date, time, and type of force used, and document interactions between police and the public. The court also ruled that including officers’ names does not make the records exempt from release.
The court further determined that internal use-of-force reviews are generally subject to disclosure under Anton’s Law. Judges said those reviews are investigatory in nature and are used to evaluate whether an officer’s actions complied with department policy, even in cases where no discipline is ultimately issued. As a result, the court rejected Ocean City’s argument that the reviews could be withheld entirely as personnel records.
However, the appellate court stopped short of requiring full, unredacted release of those internal reviews. It found a lower court’s order mandating complete disclosure went too far and ruled that the records must first be reviewed and appropriately redacted. That could include removing sensitive information such as medical details, personal identifying information, or other material protected under state law.
The appellate court affirmed the lower court’s decision in part, vacated it in part, and remanded the case for further proceedings. A lower court will now determine what portions of the internal reviews must be released and what may be withheld.
The decision underscores how Maryland courts are interpreting Anton’s Law, which was passed following the death of 19-year-old Anton Black and was intended to increase transparency around police conduct.
WBOC’s Kyle Orens will have more on the potential local impacts of the Appellate Court’s April 3 ruling.
