Public Information Act

The Maryland Public Information Act (PIA), gives the public the right to review and obtain copies of disclosable public records, except to the extent the records are protected from release because they fall within a statutorily recognized exemption to the law. Disclosable public records are only those made or received by a unit of State government in connection with the transaction of public business. In addition, the PIA does not require SCSO to answer informational questions or to create a record to satisfy a request. Your correspondence to the Sheriff's Office making a request is itself a public record and may be asked for by other requesters, along with the Sheriff's Office response.

The PIA is found in the General Provisions Article, §§4-101 through 4-601, of the Annotated Code of Maryland, and accessible through the Maryland State Law Library at www.mdcourts.gov/lawlib

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General provides a Public Information Act Manual which contains the law itself, along with narrative descriptions of the manner in which the law applies to different types of requests. The Manual is available to the public on-line, and provides meaningful assistance to members of the public and records custodians. For the table of contents and access to the complete Manual, click the button below.

1. Requests for the Somerset County Sheriff's Office may be filed via U.S. Mail or by submitting digitally. Sending your request to an individual SCSO employee will delay its receipt and processing.
2. Requests for the Somerset County Sheriff's Office may be filed via U.S. Mail or by clicking "submit a request" above. Sending your request to an individual SCSO employee will delay its receipt and processing.
3. When filing a request, be specific with respect to time frames, contents, and keywords. Inquiries should contain a targeted description of the record to enable the Sheriff's Office to locate the requested record. Be simple, straightforward and precise.
4. Requests which ask for “any and all” records without any other limiters typically result in vague and overbroad requests. In addition, processing such requests incurs high costs for the requester.
5. Disclosable public records are only those made or received by a unit of State government in connection with the transaction of public business.
6. Requests may be submitted at any time. However, requests can only be received when the Sheriff's Office is open for business. The date of receipt is the date used for processing the inquiry.
7. Upon receipt, the Sheriff's Office will perform a preliminary assessment of your request to determine if the Sheriff's Office is the appropriate custodian of the records. The Sheriff's Office will also review the request for completeness.
8. If the request is unclear or unreasonably broad, the Sheriff's Office may request that the filer clarify or narrow the request.
9. Requests are then placed in a queue of other public records requests. This begins the process of identifying, collecting and reviewing potentially responsive materials to a filer. In certain cases, third parties with an interest may be consulted to process the inquiry.
10. The PIA is not an automatic disclosure process; requests may be denied. There are circumstances when requests for public information may be denied because there is information which is not lawfully available to the public. This may include, for example, personnel records; records concerning on-going cases; classified information; and information considered confidential.
11. Your correspondence to the Sheriff's Office making a request may itself become a public record and can be requested by other filers, along with the Sheriff's Office response.
12. The Sheriff's Office will respond as efficiently as possible based on factors including the availability of records, the complexity of the request, the volume of materials involved, the number of requests in the queue, and the time required to review the materials for possible redactions to protect the privacy rights of students or employees or other information deemed confidential under federal or state law.
13. Our ultimate goal is to be responsive to each and every request received.

1. Pursuant to Section 4-206, to the Sheriff's Office may recover its costs for the actual time expended for the search, preparation, legal review and reproduction of records, to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, SCSO may not charge a fee for the first 2 hours that are needed to search for a public record and prepare it for inspection. Consequently, we encourage filers to be explicit and precise when drafting their requests.
2. To offer the most efficient customer service, the Sheriff's Office requires payment for any estimated amount due before the work is performed. The search, preparation and copying process will begin upon receipt of the total estimated fee. If the actual fee differs from the estimate, the fee will be adjusted accordingly, and you will receive an additional bill or refund as appropriate.
3. Requesters will be notified in advance of any fees to be assessed prior to execution. The requester will then have an opportunity to revise or narrow the scope of a request to avoid or reduce actual costs.
4. Please make your money order or check payable to the "Somerset County Sheriff's Office" and send it to 7920 Crisfield Hwy Westover MD 21871. You may also hand-deliver this payment. The Sheriff's Office does not accept cash through the mail, credit cards, or PayPal.
5. If the Sheriff's Office does not receive your payment within fifteen (15) calendar days from the date of our reply, it will presume that you are no longer interested in pursuing your request and close the file accordingly. To obtain the documents, you must submit a new request.

1. Comments or questions for the Sheriff's Office may be directed to: scso@somersetmd.us
2. Filers who disagree with any response to a PIA request, may seek review of the decision in accordance with Section 4-362 of the PIA. In addition, they may seek assistance from the Public Access Ombudsperson under GP Section 4-1B-01 et seq.
3. If a filer feels that the Sheriff's Office has imposed an unreasonable fee (more than $350) to produce the responsive documents, the filer may seek assistance from the State Public Information Act Compliance Board (GP Section 4-1A-01 et seq.).