INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An attorney for ESPN told Indiana’s highest court that the University of Notre Dame‘s police department should release records the network is seeking because the powers its officers exercise make it subject to state public records laws.
ESPN attorney Maggie Smith told the state Supreme Court Tuesday that the ability to arrest and apprehend are “the core powers of the state” and Notre Dame’s police department is therefore covered by Indiana’s public records laws.
Notre Dame attorney Peter Rusthoven told the justices that those laws should not apply to the school’s police records because Notre Dame is a private institution that doesn’t perform government functions.
He also noted that Indiana’s public access counselor has previously issued three opinions finding that private universities’ police records aren’t subject to Indiana’s records laws.
