Missouri Governor Wants Safety Protocols Kept Secret

Doesn't want safety procedures at certain facilities revealed

BELLERIVE – Gov. Jay Nixon called on Missouri lawmakers Friday to renew an exemption in the state's open records law that prevents the release of safety and security procedures at facilities such as hospitals and power plants.

"These security plans are important and it's important to keep them secret," he said during a press conference in the student center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. "You don't hand the keys to your house or the security code to the burglar."

The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., last month has sparked discussion about school safety, but security protocols for such government buildings as public schools are open records in Missouri. That's because the Sunshine Law exemption that closes those records expired Dec. 31. See sections 18 and 19 of the law that allows for certain government meetings and records to be sealed.