Kentucky's Attorney General has ruled that Grayson County E-911 violated the state's Open Records Act in its response to The Courier-Journal's request for emergency dispatch records from the Grayson County Detention Center, according to a decision issued April 24, 2026.

The Courier-Journal requested EMS logs, incident reports, dispatch records, and 911 audio recordings related to calls from or involving the detention center between March 1, 2025, and March 1, 2026. The dispatch center initially denied the request for 911 recordings, claiming reviewing and redacting the large audio files would place an "unreasonable administrative burden" on the agency.

The Attorney General's office determined the agency failed to meet the legal threshold required to withhold such records. Kentucky law requires agencies claiming "unreasonable burden" to provide "clear and convincing evidence," a high standard that requires showing "the truth of the contention is 'highly probable.'" The agency provided only vague assertions without details about the number of records, specific exempt material requiring redaction, or time estimates, the decision stated.

The ruling also found the agency violated the Act by failing to explain in its initial response how specific exemptions applied to redacted material in Computer Aided Dispatch summaries. However, the agency properly withheld patient care records and correctly redacted certain information from dispatch reports, including medical details, caller names and addresses, and automatically-generated location data.

The decision clarified that emergency dispatch centers cannot categorically withhold all records based on general concerns about administrative burden. The balance between public access and privacy interests in 911 calls has been a recurring issue in Kentucky open records disputes. The Attorney General's office has previously found violations when agencies improperly withheld dispatch records without specific justification.