Records, requests and rejections: Sheriff’s Log update

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 3, 2026

The Sheriff’s Log is back!

Well, kinda.

What a wild few weeks it has been. For those unaware, Sheriff Eric Peter chose to withdraw the Sheriff’s Log from local news outlets due to a “significant increase in public records requests for the incidents listed in the report, as well as for associated body-worn camera footage. The volume of these requests has placed an unsustainable burden on our Civil Office and the county’s single Public Records Clerk.” Our position was clear: The Sheriff’s Log has been printed in our papers for decades, and it contributes to transparency and public awareness during a time when our First Amendment rights are being threatened daily.

We appreciate the positive feedback on our coverage of this issue, and we were hopeful it would initiate change.

It did not.

So we made a records request of the Sheriff’s Department call logs from July 1-27. It was rejected. We reached out to Sharon Kivisito of the San Juan Islander, who’d successfully submitted a records request for the same thing. She provided the exact wording to use so the County would approve it.

We were sent more than 1,900 pages compared to the 10-page media report the department’s system generated for us weekly. The file contained raw data for every call: parking complaints, alarm checks, arrests, DUIs, domestic incidents, welfare checks, parking tows and minor traffic stops.

What you see printed here is a drastically pared-down version that is suitable for readers. We excluded minor incidents and suicides and included what we have historically: traffic violations, domestic violence, arrests, welfare checks, deaths, overdoses and animals at large.

We’ll continue requesting these records for as long as the department declines to provide the log directly. It shouldn’t take a workaround to keep the public informed about what’s happening in their own community — but until the Sheriff’s Office restores the log, we’ll keep doing it the hard way.

The log can be found on page 4.