Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink acted appropriately this week when he finally agreed to release nearly 1,000 pages of documents from the Columbine files.
The atrocities at Columbine High School already have occurred, but it’s not too late to stop further school massacres.
That’s why we think Mink should reconsider his decision to seal the “basement tapes” made by student killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and allow researchers some sort of access to study them.
Mink called the tapes “very, very disturbing” and said they could provide impetus for copycat killings. But the contents of the tapes, recorded in the days before the April 20, 1999, shootings in the killers’ basements, already have been chronicled for the public by reporters and family members of Columbine victims who have viewed them.
Since 2001, The Denver Post has sought release of Harris’ and Klebold’s diaries, school papers, medical records, annotated high school yearbooks, and access to the tapes. The newspaper hasn’t sought total release of the tapes, but rather supports allowing members of the public to view them under the supervision of the sheriff.
Since the sheriff’s department used portions of the tapes to prepare its final report on the school shootings (and for the sentencing hearing of a man convicted of providing the killers’ weapons), they’re public records. Mink, at the very least, should grant access to the tapes to psychologists, academics and educators.
We understand the fear of releasing copies of the tapes to the public, allowing them to be duplicated on Internet sites across the globe. But making them accessible to the above experts is in the public interest and critical to a better understanding of why the teen killers went on their rampage.
It’s plausible that psychiatrists and psychologists reviewing the tapes could glean some insight into aberrant behavior in teenagers, while parents of other teens or educators may see something they recognize in the killers’ behavior that could help avoid another Columbine. Sealing the tapes only hides a critical piece of the puzzle.
The 936 pages to be released include diaries written by the killers, their day-planners and school work, along with a journal written by Eric’s father, Wayne Harris. An earlier Supreme Court ruling allows the killers’ parents to appeal his decision. But the items seized from their homes and vehicles were done so with the proper warrants and are criminal justice records, which should be released under Colorado law.
