Law Enforcement Personal Privacy Protection Act: restriction of a law enforcement officer's home address, personal cellular telephone number and tax map number on agency web sites

A law enforcement officer's personal contact information in a disclosed record must be restricted on a publicly available internet website maintained by or operated on behalf of the state or local government agency if the law enforcement officer notifies the individual agency of the choice to restrict public access by submitting the designated form and any supplemental information the agency requests, and provides a notarized affidavit affirming current employment or previous employment as a law enforcement officer.

Personal contact information means the home address, personal cellular telephone number, or property tax map number, if applicable, of the eligible requesting party. Law enforcement officer means an active or former federal, state or local certified law enforcement officer or corrections officer.

Disclosed records means records accessible by a database or an image of an official record that are placed on a publicly available internet website maintained by or operated on behalf of a state or local government agency, and do not include records available for purchase or through an account, by registration or subscription, from a state or local government agency.

Restricted personal contact information must remain within the official records held or maintained by a state or local government agency, but may not be included in an index or displayed on an image of an official record on a publicly available internet website maintained or operated on behalf of a state or local government agency.

If a home address or tax map number cannot be restricted from a disclosed record within an index or from being displayed on an image of an official record, the image of the official record must not be displayed and the agency must restrict the home address or tax map number portion from the display within the index.

A governmental agency that restricts or withholds information under the article must provide to a requestor a description of the restricted or withheld information and a citation to the article. Restricted personal contact information may be disclosed under subpoena, by order of the court, upon written consent of the eligible law enforcement officer, or to a government agency.

Restricted personal contact information may also be disclosed to a title insurer or its affiliate, a title insurance agent or agency, a personal representative of a deceased eligible requesting party, a South Carolina attorney in good standing with the South Carolina Bar, or a professional engineer or professional surveyor, or to a person each appoints in writing to receive the restricted information on that person's behalf.

The eligible requesting party's request to restrict information does not apply to a subsequent home address, and the eligible requesting party is responsible for notifying each state or local government agency, through the designated form, of a subsequent home address and of any documents filed after the original request.

The restricted status of a home address in the official records within a county register of deeds is maintained only during the period when the eligible requesting party resides at the dwelling location. An eligible requesting party may petition the court for an order directing compliance with the article. Liability may not accrue to a state or local government employee or to the employee's agents for claims or damages that arise from personal contact information on the public record.