HOUGHTON – Journalists are often told by law enforcement personnel they are prevented by law from giving out names of people who are arrested until that person is arraigned in court, but a representative of the Michigan Press Association said that isn’t correct.

In order to find out exactly what, if anything, the law states about law enforcement giving out names of people arrested before arraignment, the 97th District Court in Houghton was contacted.

A representative of 97th District Court said employees there – after getting several requests for an answer to the question of naming people arrested – looked into the issue. What they were told was that as soon as a prosecuting attorney files charges and the arrested person is in the court system, the name can be released.

However, Robin Herrmann, general counsel for the Michigan Press Association in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, said there is nothing in Michigan law which prevents law enforcement personnel from giving out names of arrested people immediately.

“I am not aware of any law that prohibits law enforcement from releasing names of people arrested before arraignment,” she said. “My experience is just the opposite.”

Herrmann said there may be times when law enforcement personnel don’t want to give out names of those arrested when the arrest is part of an ongoing investigation, but once something is written down by police, it’s public information.

The Michigan Freedom of Information Act doesn’t state that releasing names of those arrested is exempt from the Act, Herrmann said.

Herrmann said she agrees with the representative of the 97th District Court that once a name is in the system, it can be released.

“Once a case is filed, either civil or criminal, that information is typically available,” she said.