MN Courts to seek prohibitive fees for online court records creating access barrier for independent media

By Crime Watch MN, January 22, 2022, last updated Feb. 8

UPDATE: A bill has been authored in the House by @KRobbinsMN to eliminate the $8 fee for online access/viewing of court documents. Please contact your own representatives and ask them to support and vote YES on HF 3041.

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We posted a series of Tweets on Friday about the plan by the Minnesota Judicial Branch (MN Courts) to implement the excessive fee of $8 per document downloaded from online court records (MCRO), and how that will severely impact/limit our volunteer work to provide you with case/offender info that no one else is reporting.

Below is the series of Tweets, and we ask for your help in contacting your state legislators who have the ability to enact relief.

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As you may know, our Crime Watch & Information network is a volunteer effort.

All of the research and reporting we’ve provided for over 11 years has been done for free as a public service — because we believe people deserve information that’s sorely lacking from authorities and mainstream #MNmedia.

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No entity or agency pays us to do this. And while it’s our passion to provide all of this information for free, it’s not free to produce.

There are real costs involved and absorbed by us (computer hardware/software, scanners, electronic storage, and costs for obtaining records and public data).

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In the past we’ve been able to obtain occasional criminal complaints from various counties or agencies for our reporting (when often a courthouse visit would be required).

As volunteers, we don’t have “staff” or resources to be running to the courthouse for documents.

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Our case reporting has increased significantly over the last 2–3 years requiring access to much more information and more court documents.

And you’ve responded with great appreciation for our informational output, which you often can’t find anywhere else. (We report what others won’t).

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In the last year, Minnesota Courts began rolling out online access to criminal complaints and court documents as an enhancement to access and transparency, according to their statement.

Which has been great. It’s a move we’ve been advocating for years. It’s part of the reason we’ve been able to increase our reporting on cases and offenders.

However… as the roll out proceeds, MN Courts announced that it plans to begin charging $8 per each online document downloaded or viewed.

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This week alone, Crime Watch downloaded 19 documents from the court website for our research in reporting the information we’ve posted across social media this week. Much of that info was exclusively reported by us and not reported anywhere else.

In the future that would cost us $152, when the fee gets implemented.

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That’s excessive and simply not a sustainable cost to absorb for volunteer independent media on a weekly basis.

This amount of document research and download by us is typical, and often exceeds this amount in any given week.

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In comparison, the federal PACER case access website charges .10 cents per page downloaded, and a user is not charged if they don’t exceed $30 in fees accumulated per calendar quarter.

So even for an 8-page criminal complaint, the federal fee would only be .80 cents for the document. (Whereas Minnesota would charge $8 to download a similar document).

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So, we will be at a crossroads very shortly in our ability to provide the critical and exclusive information and reporting that you’re not getting anywhere else, and which you’ve come to expect and value from us.

We need your help, your action.

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Please find your #MNLEG and #MNSEN legislators, at the link directly below. Call or email them and ask them to introduce or support legislation to reduce or eliminate the fee of $8 per document which is set in MN Statute § 357.021, subd. 2(2). At the very least, ask that they bring the fee in line with federal PACER fees of .10 cents per page.

https://www.gis.lcc.mn.gov/iMaps/districts/

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Tag the handles of your #MNLEG and #MNSEN reps on this thread (or share/forward this thread to them). Tell them you value the exclusive and independent research and reporting provided by Crime Watch.

Tell them independent media like us deserves affordable access to public records to do this volunteer work.

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Additionally, we thank our followers who’ve generously chosen to help us cover costs and help sustain our volunteer work, whether it’s with a one-time donation to our tip jars or through a sustaining pledge of support on our Patreon page. It’s so appreciated.

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Below is a link to this entire thread that you can share to anyone outside of Facebook or Twitter. Please include this link in emails to your legislative reps as you ask them to take relief action on this issue: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1484617893094379520.html

Thank you for helping us keep you informed.

UPDATE: Candidate for Hennepin County Sheriff, Jai Hanson, voiced his support for our position of reducing or eliminating the $8 per document fee in the name of “transparency,” and said that kind of fee “hinders that process.”

We thank candidate Hanson for adding his voice to our concerns.

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We’re volunteers. Your financial support places value on our time spent researching and reporting news you won’t get from mainstream media. We are committed to keeping the information we produce free from paywalls, but it’s not free to produce.

In addition to placing value on our time, your support can help us offset real costs for equipment, scanners, software, electronic storage and costs often associated with obtaining public data or records.

Ways to support our informational social media posts and other content:
— Make a sustaining monthly pledge on Patreon
— Donate through our tip jar at paypal.me/CrimeWatchMpls
— Visit Crime Watch Mpls/Twin Cities | Linktree to donate through another platform

Thank you.

Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes original content news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. We often report what other media won’t. Read About Us.