Richard King asked: "Do any of you (or could you) operate in a situation where the retention period on your records is just a "minimum" retention period and "the records can be kept longer"?  

And I echo Kristopher Stenson's reply that most state governments (Texas in my case) operate in that way--and so does Harris County. And, there are good reasons to do so.

First, the theoretical. In government, retention schedules are authorizations to destroy unneeded records whereas in private enterprise they are more like maintenance schedules.  In the United States, if something is not forbidden, private persons (including corporate persons) can do it. For government, however, unless we have permission to do something, it is forbidden. (From here, we could go into a discussion of expressed powers of government versus implied powers, but let's not.) As a result, unless government officials can cite some authority to dispose of records at a given time, they are reluctant to do so. Also, governments are not in the business of making money and are also held to a higher legal and ethical standard. Whereas a business will want to dispose of records as quickly as possible to reduce operational costs and reduce the chance of the records being used against them, the public (especially the media) expects us to hold onto records just in case they may hold evidence of wrong doing. 

Now, the practical. Not all similar records are created equal. Just yesterday I was revising our retention schedule when the question of EAP (Employee Assistance Program) records arose. I intend to go with the state minimum, 3 years, but one of our law enforcement agencies protested that was not nearly long enough. They wanted at least a 10-year retention. But, EAP records cover everything from smoking cessation for a janitor to mandatory counseling after an officer is involved in a shooting. My inclination is to establish 3 years as the minimum with a cautionary note that some departments may want to hold onto some longer. 

We have a similar case with employment applications and evaluations for non-hires.  The state mandated minimum is 2-years based upon EEOC guidelines. But that 2-years is a statute of limitation for filing a complaint. By the time a complaint is filed, processed by EEOC, service made to the county, and the records clerk is notified, the records may well be long gone. So, we set a 3-year minimum retention. But, while 3 years is appropriate for Facilities (which typically requires only a simple background investigation) it is not appropriate to law enforcement. We want to make sure that people who carry guns and can deprive persons of their freedom are very well vetted.  So, for them, we have extensive and expensive background investigations. Because many applicants for law enforcement jobs will reapply time after time, it makes economic sense to keep those investigations longer than we do for civilian jobs. Otherwise, we would be constantly reinventing some very costly wheels.

I'll conclude with Ralph Waldo Emerson's observation, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." But let's emphasize the word, "foolish."

Now, let the flame war begin.

Paul


Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM
Records Management Officer
Harris County, TX
713 274-7740

Under the Texas Public Information Act written communications to or from public employees may be considered to be public records and may be made available to the public and the media upon request.  This e-mail and any replies may be subject to public disclosure.

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