# Jeffersontown Police Violated Open Records Law, AG Rules **Published:** 2026-05-26T00:00:00.000Z **Source:** [KY Attorney General Open Records](https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/2026/26-ORD-238.pdf) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/jeffersontown-police-violated-open-records-law-ag-rules The Jeffersontown Police Department violated Kentucky's Open Records Act when it failed to provide a written response to a public records request within the required five business days, the state Attorney General ruled in a decision released May 26. In decision 26-ORD-238, [Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman found](https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/2026/26-ORD-238.pdf) that the department did not timely respond to inmate Richard Wells' request for robbery investigation records, including detective notes, witness interviews and lab reports, submitted December 24, 2025. Wells initiated an appeal with the Attorney General on March 18, 2026, after receiving no response from the department for nearly three months. [Under Kentucky law, public agencies must notify requesters within five business days whether they will comply with or deny a request](https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/Pages/default.aspx), and may only extend deadlines if records are in active use or unavailable with a detailed explanation of the delay. The Jeffersontown Police Department acknowledged that it received Wells' request on December 30, 2025, and admitted its "delay letter was sent late." The department attributed the delay to the request being "redaction heavy" and citing "special circumstances" regarding procedures for sending records to correctional facilities. While the Attorney General found the department violated the law by missing its response deadline, [the decision notes that the department subsequently provided Wells with redacted copies of the requested records](https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/2026/26-ORD-238.pdf). The ruling allows either party to appeal the decision to circuit court within 30 days. [The Jeffersontown Police Department](https://www.jeffersontownky.com/125/Police-Department), located in the greater Louisville area, is not the first Kentucky law enforcement agency to face such findings. Similar cases have challenged agencies' compliance with the state's open records requirements, particularly regarding response timelines and record processing for inmates. ## Sources - [KY Attorney General Open Records](https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/2026/26-ORD-238.pdf) - [Kentucky Attorney General Open Records and Open Meetings Division](https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/Pages/default.aspx) - [Jeffersontown Police Department Official Website](https://www.jeffersontownky.com/125/Police-Department) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from KY Attorney General Open Records, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/2026/26-ORD-238.pdf.