Topeka ? Local government officials told a House committee Thursday they should be able to discuss and document details about anti-terrorism measures without sharing them with the public.

Representatives of Kansas news organizations agreed, but opposed an exclusion to open meetings and open records laws they believe could lead to closing such records as arrest reports and trial proceedings.

Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said he was prevented last year from discussing details about the city’s security plan with the City Council because the Attorney General’s Office said there was no legal exemption allowing him to do so.

He said allowing the public to know details of the city’s security plans would compromise those efforts.

“One of our best tools is that our adversaries don’t know where we’re going to be or what we’re going to do. To speak openly opens us up to full disclosure to our adversaries,” Douglass told the Local Government Committee, which took no action on the measure.

But Mike Merriam, a Topeka attorney representing the Kansas Press Assn., said the chief’s concerns already were addressed in Kansas law. Merriam said Douglass should have been able to go into closed session with the City Council to discuss security.

Rick Thames, editor of The Wichita Eagle, agreed there were times when security measures were best not discussed in public. But enacting new exemptions, he said, is not the way to go.

“If you adopt these bills, in fact you’ll be tossing out the most important safeguard we have in Kansas: the public scrutiny that ensures that government agencies, indeed, are protecting us,” Thames told the committee.

Both Thames and Merriam argued that the exemptions were overly broad and could close other records currently considered to be public, including information on arrests, trials and convictions.

Various government records are closed under 370 provisions of Kansas law, including 46 in the Kansas Open Records Act. Under a 2000 law, exceptions to the Open Records Act must be reviewed after five years.

Open records exemptions are HB 2489 and 2490.