Who made the state police king? Why do they continue to drag their feet in releasing a final report on the investigation into the devastating Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School? Who gave that agency the authority to decide what the public should know and when they should know it?
Last March, peeved because high-ranking state police officers attending law enforcement conferences were leaking details from the massacre investigation that had not been made public, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy demanded an interim report on the status of the probe. The investigators complied, while stating that a final report on the heinous crime would not be finished until mid-June — at the earliest.
Now we are told by the state police that a final investigative report on Sandy Hook won’t be ready until the end of September, more than nine months after the crime was committed.
“Nobody ever said that we had to have it done by a certain time,” said the usually professional department spokesman, Lt. J. Paul Vance.
The “hide-the-information” game being played by the police and other state officials is ridiculous. The only suspect in this crime — shooter Adam Lanza, who killed 20 first-graders, six female educators, his mother and himself — is dead. It’s almost certain there won’t be another arrest. The police have little to no excuse for dragging this out.
Mr. Malloy, who was helpful in squeezing a status report out of prosecutors in March, is of no help now. He is siding with the secret-keepers.
Indeed, The Courant discovered that his staff worked behind closed doors, contrary to usual procedure, with legislative leaders and the chief state’s attorney’s office to prepare legislation that would keep a broad swath of normally available information about Sandy Hook secret forever unless relatives of victims ask for its release.
The bill hasn’t been voted on, and leading lawmakers won’t say whether or when it will be.
The penchant for secrecy displayed by the state police, the governor and legislative leaders is deeply troubling. It’s obvious they don’t trust the public.