Government agencies are "pretty good" at releasing information under the state open records law. But the public often needs to be persistent, especially since many state and county workers are not well informed about what is required, according to a study conducted by the Society of Professional Journalists Hawai'i Chapter and other public access advocates.

Of 59 record requests sought by volunteers taking part in a freedom of information compliance audit, 43 were met within several days, SPJ President Stirling Morita said.

But only 17 of the requests were fulfilled on the first visit, he said. And many employees asked for the identification of requesters or the reasons for were seeking the information.

Freedom of information audits are conducted by SPJ chapters across the country. The one conducted across all four major islands here by 33 volunteers, many of them from the League of Women Voters, was a first for Hawai'i.

The 16 requests that were not filled came from across the Islands — four at state agencies and 12 at county agencies. Of the 16, two requests were actually partly filled.

Copies of recent arrest logs were asked of each county police department. While the Honolulu and Kaua'i police departments abided, the Hawai'i and Maui departments allowed requesters only to view the logs.

"I would've thought (the report) would have come out a lot differently than it did," Morita said. "But the results were pretty good if you look at it from a government standpoint."

Morita, night editor at the Ho-nolulu Star-Bulletin and a veteran journalist, said it was disappointing that it took more than a day to receive many of the records. "A lot of the records should have been available on the first day," he said. "They were the type of records that people would expect to (see) on the counter or made available to them within a half-hour of their visit."

Most of the volunteers met with a lot of resistance from government employees. "They wanted to know who you are, where you're from, why you want to see these records," Morita said. Such actions are intimidating and could discourage the public from making such requests, he said.

The actions also indicate that a good number of government employees are still unfamiliar with open access laws, he said.

Morita said the volunteers were trained and may have been more persistent than ordinary citizens.

Among the types of information requested were travel expenses, personnel lists, nonbid contracts, consultant contracts, office space and land leases, legal settlements, legal services, criminal information and restaurant inspection reports.

Fifty of the requests were made in person; nine were made over the telephone.

Les Kondo, director of the state Office of Information Practices, said he did not want to comment on how the state and counties fared in the audit before he saw the final report.

In general, he said, state and county employees should be aware that except under specific conditions, government documents should be released to the public and that there is no requirement for requesters to present identification or a reason why they want specific records.

Kondo agreed with Morita that requiring an identification or reason for seeking a record could have a chilling effect.

An agency can take up to 10 days to respond in cases where there may be problems, and an agency can ask for the request to be made in writing

Kondo has asked for a final report and supporting documents so that reminder letters can be sent to agencies that did not follow the open records statute.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.