Guam TV station sues police over search, confiscated document used in news report on officer

Police accused of violating rights of TV station

HAGATNA, Guam — A TV station has filed a lawsuit against police in the U.S. territory, alleging that its constitutional rights were violated when officers confiscated a document used in a news report.

KUAM’s lawsuit seeks the return of the seized document and a temporary restraining order against the Guam police department.

Police executed a search warrant Wednesday, a day after KUAM reported that a police officer allegedly failed a polygraph test required for trainees.

The news story cited an official police department document that allegedly showed Police Chief Paul Suba’s initials next to instructions to move forward with the officer’s training.

James Mitchell, the department’s legal counsel, said police went to recover the “confidential” document after it disappeared from the department’s personnel office, but only found a copy, which they took.

“This whole investigation is not intended to impair anyone’s First Amendment rights,” Mitchell said. “What it was intended to do is recover our document that was stolen from us.”

KUAM General Manager Joey Calvo said in a statement Thursday that the search warrant is a “slap in the face” that tramples on the Constitution.

“It is alarming the Guam police department would go to the extent that it went in seeking a search warrant and subsequently sending a group of (officers) to search for a single piece of paper — something they certainly could have easily placed a phone call and asked for,” Calvo said.

A legal memo filed with the complaint said the search was “in violation of the most basic protections that guarantee a free and impartial press.”

“The search warrant was improperly issued and unlawfully executed in violation of the First and Fourth Amendments … the federal Privacy Protection Act of 1980 … and various other provisions of federal and Guam law,” it said.

The court memo also alleged that the search warrant was meant to “intimidate” KUAM because many officers were sent to do what only a few could have done; the search was conducted just before its evening news broadcast; and because 40 employees were ordered outside for “no legitimate reason.”