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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard has abandoned his idea of withholding information from suspects' old rap sheets.
News organizations had said his plan to follow FBI and federal Freedom of Information Act guidelines was counter to the state Government Records Access Management Act.
Following discussions with media representatives, Kennard said Tuesday that he would leave the current policy alone.
"I have been convinced it is in the public's best interest to keep (the policy) as it is," said Kennard, who was quoted in a copyright story in the Deseret Morning News. "The last thing I want anyone thinking is that I'm trying to hide something."
Kennard also said he did not want it to appear that he was condoning the actions of a repeat offender by not releasing the criminal history of the suspect.
The Salt Lake District Attorney's Office had recommended that the sheriff make jail records classified, he said.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
