Public Records Request Policy

Mississippi Delta Community College complies with public records requests in accordance with the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983, codified in Miss. Code Ann. §§ 25-61-1 through 25-61-17 (Supp. 2015). Mississippi Delta recognizes that under this statute the public has the “right to inspect, copy or mechanically produce or obtain a production of a public record of the public body.” Mississippi Delta will produce such records as required by law or issue a denial of production of public records within seven (7) days from the date of the request for the production of such record. In the event that the requested information is particularly difficult to locate or reproduce, MDCC reserves the right to take up to fourteen (14) days to produce such record. MDCC reserves the right to charge the actual costs of providing copies of the records. This will include hourly labor costs for the individual designated to locate, review, and produce such records; the costs for copying such records; and, if applicable, mailing copies of the public records. These fees shall be collected in advance before complying with the request [Miss. Code Ann. §25-61-7 (Supp. 2015)]. MDCC reserves the right to refuse to produce public records which are exempted or privileged by law from disclosure. These include investigative offense reports and other documents containing witness statements, police radio logs, taped communications or officers’ daily reports (A.G. Op. No. 92- 0793 to Whitmore dated October 14, 1992). Exemptions also include personnel records and applications for employment in the possession of MDCC, except those released to or with the prior written consent of the person who made the application [Miss. Code Ann. §25-1-100(1) (Supp. 2015)]. MDCC also notes that under A.G. Op. No. 94-0407 it is not MDCC’s responsibility under a public records request to compile any list of names and addresses that does not already exist.