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Terms Used In Maryland Code, GENERAL PROVISIONS 4-351

  • County: means a county of the State or Baltimore City. See
  • including: means includes or including by way of illustration and not by way of limitation. See
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Person: includes an individual, receiver, trustee, guardian, personal representative, fiduciary, representative of any kind, corporation, partnership, business trust, statutory trust, limited liability company, firm, association, or other nongovernmental entity. See
  • state: means :

    (1) a state, possession, territory, or commonwealth of the United States; or

    (2) the District of Columbia. See
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(a) Subject to subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this section, a custodian may deny inspection of:

(1) records of investigations conducted by the Attorney General, a State‘s Attorney, a municipal or county attorney, a police department, or a sheriff;

(2) an investigatory file compiled for any other law enforcement, judicial, correctional, or prosecution purpose;

(3) records that contain intelligence information or security procedures of the Attorney General, a State’s Attorney, a municipal or county attorney, a police department, a State or local correctional facility, or a sheriff; or

(4) records, other than a record of a technical infraction, relating to an administrative or criminal investigation of misconduct by a police officer, including an internal affairs investigatory record, a hearing record, and records relating to a disciplinary decision.

(b) A custodian may deny inspection by a person in interest only to the extent that the inspection would:

(1) interfere with a valid and proper law enforcement proceeding;

(2) deprive another person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication;

(3) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(4) disclose the identity of a confidential source;

(5) disclose an investigative technique or procedure;

(6) prejudice an investigation; or

(7) endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.

(c) A custodian shall allow inspection of a record described in subsection (a)(4) of this section by:

(1) the United States Attorney;

(2) the Attorney General;

(3) the State Prosecutor; or

(4) the State’s Attorney for the jurisdiction relevant to the record.

(d) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, a custodian:

(1) shall redact the portions of a record described in subsection (a)(4) of this section to the extent that the record reflects:

(i) medical information of the person in interest;

(ii) personal contact information of the person in interest or a witness; or

(iii) information relating to the family of the person in interest; and

(2) may redact the portion of a record described in subsection (a)(4) of this section to the extent that the record reflects witness information other than personal contact information.

(e) A custodian shall notify the person in interest of a record described in subsection (a)(4) of this section when the record is inspected, but may not disclose the identity of the requestor to the person in interest.