I’m not at all sure I agree with a new State Bureau of Investigation policy regarding reports of theft and misspending within state agencies.

As reported by the Associated Press today, the SBI has decided that full, detailed reports of such allegations should no longer be released to the public. Instead, agency heads will file a shorter form that provides a brief description of the incident, without naming the names of state employees who might have been involved.

The SBI says it is trying to make sure that personnel information is not inappropriately disclosed. At least one critic, incoming Sen. Fern Shubert (R-Union), says she’s concerned that the public might not get a full picture of the extent of theft, misspending, or theft under the new system. And Hugh Stevens, an attorney representing the state’s news media, argues that a proper concern for employee privacy need not extend to the abbreviated reporting form that the SBI has come up with.

It’s reasonable to ensure that state employees are not unfairly maligned in raw reports released to the public. I’m thinking, though, that some of the motivation for the change has a less praiseworthy origin. Just weeks ago, the University of North Carolina system got some bad press regarding misuse of funds on campus. More generally, agencies reported about $1.5 million in theft and misappropriation last year, and this was probably an understatement.

I’m not sure that we’re talking about a problem of great magnitude — larger-scale problems such as Medicaid and welfare fraud aren’t included here – but there is undeniably a symbolic element to it. State officials likely want to avoid the bad publicity associated with such reports if they could. I just hope that this change of policy is what the SBI says it is, and nothing more.

After all, when an employee’s misappropriation of funds doesn’t rise to the level of a criminal act, it is still a serious matter and nothing that deserves a protective zone of privacy. An allegation is one thing, and properly investigated before being made public, but a finding of misbehavior, and particularly an admission of the same, is news of which the taxpaying public should be made aware in a full and timely fashion.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.