The Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union says that five incidents this summer highlight the blatant disregard some public officials have for the state’s Access to Public Records Act.

In a report released yesterday, the ACLU calls for strengthening of the law that protects the public’s right to know.

“Time and time again,” the report says, “public officials are withholding records that are undeniably public documents, while making virtually no effort to justify their decisions or comport their conduct with express provisions of the statute.”

In particular, the ACLU highlights the five “striking and disturbing” incidents over a two-month period that it says demonstrated a “widespread nonchalance” for the public records law.

The report details the following instances in which officials withheld public records from The Providence Journal:

•The state Department of Environmental Management denied The Journal’s request for information on the boat registration for the vessel involved in a July accident on the Barrington River that killed teenager Patrick Murphy.

The DEM refused the request on the basis that the information is part of an investigation, but the law provides for such records to remain public, the ACLU notes.

The DEM and the Barrington Police Department also refused to fully release arrest reports in the matter. Ryan Greenberg, a classmate of Murphy’s, has been charged with a felony count of reckless operation, death resulting, as well as underage alcohol possession and refusing to submit to a chemical breath test.

“This Barrington tragedy, unfortunately, supplies a textbook case, in more than one respect, of the low respect with which [the public records law] is held by some agencies,” the ACLU study says.

Barrington Police Chief John M. LaCross said his department did release the arrest report for Greenberg’s alcohol-possession charge.

He defended the decision not to release a police narrative or witness statements related to the more serious charge of operating a boat with a death resulting.

LaCross said the investigation is still ongoing, with interviews scheduled for last night and next week, and he said the case is expected to go before a grand jury at the end of the month.

“I know they feel the public deserves to know,” LaCross said of the ACLU. “But sometimes releasing documents will hinder the ability to get to the truth because it’s going to taint what other people may say. There will be a point in time when everything will be made known to the public. But now is not the time because we are actively conducting an investigation, and it will hurt the integrity of the investigation to release those documents.”

A DEM spokeswoman, in a statement yesterday, said, “DEM determined that disclosure of all the information requested would have negatively impacted this important investigation at that time.”

•Providence officials refused to provide The Journal with a copy of a settlement the city had reached with two former Providence police officers who were fired from their jobs and accused of cheating on a police exam.

The law says that all legal settlements against government agencies are public records.

•The Warwick Police Department initially refused to release convicted killer Alfred “Freddie” Bishop’s arrest report on a new murder charge, saying the investigation was ongoing.

The Warwick police chief, Col. Stephen M. McCartney, said yesterday, “I most certainly did recognize that I owed The Providence Journal a public document delineating the circumstances of the arrest of Mr. Bishop.”

He said the ACLU report “grossly exaggerated the situation.”

McCartney said he thought Bishop’s arrest affidavit would be read aloud in open court, but when that didn’t happen, he spoke with the attorney general’s office and a Journal reporter and lawyer to resolve the matter. The police eventually provided the report.

“Contrary to what the ACLU asserts, I was not trying to be obstructionist,” McCartney said.

•The state refused to release a business’s application for “Minority Business Enterprise” status, even though that application was reviewed at a public meeting.

Additionally, the report says, the state police demanded that a Providence man, Juan Garcia, provide his driver’s license and his date of birth before he could obtain a copy of an arrest report. When Garcia refused, he was asked to leave the police barracks.

Governor Carcieri’s spokesman, Jeff Neal, said the ACLU is only pointing out anomalies.

“The ACLU’s manifesto deliberately ignores the thousands and thousands of records and pieces of information that the state government provides to reporters and citizens each and every year,” Neal said. “In the overwhelming majority of cases, requests for public records are fulfilled fully and with far greater speed than required by law. In many cases, the state also waives the copying and labor fees allowed by law.”

The ACLU says it’s time for comprehensive reforms to the public records law, including:

•Requiring that arrest reports, including police narratives, be made available as soon as possible, but no later than three business days from a request.

•Requiring agencies to certify that those who handle open-records requests have been trained in the law’s requirements.

•Increasing fines to up to $5,000 for violations of the law. The law now allows for fines of up to $1,000 for “knowing and willful” violations.

•Prohibiting public bodies from demanding personal information from someone requesting public records.

•Reducing the time public officials have to respond to requests from 10 days to 3 days, or 10 days for “good cause.”

•Requiring that copying and search fees be waived if an agency fails to provide records in a timely manner.

The 25-page report, titled “The Public’s Right to Know vs. the Public’s Right to ‘No,’ ” was prepared for ACCESS/RI, a freedom-of-information coalition.

efitzpat@projo.com