Rationale for gag order doesn't hold up

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke's gag order, forbidding anyone who works for him from talking about sheriff's department business or sharing any documents, is a blatant attempt to shut up his critics, who are legion in the department.

A Journal Sentinel editorial lets him make his arguments:

Clarke says his goal is not to impede information but to control the flow of confidential information that the sheriff says is being leaked. The sheriff says that because that information is often inaccurate and is being released prematurely and in a piecemeal manner, it's undermining the department's mission and causing needless confusion.

The sheriff says the so-called gag order, which directs departmental personnel to "keep official agency business confidential," is merely a continuation of an existing department policy, one that Clarke says goes back to 1984, if not earlier. What's more, the sheriff says most large law enforcement agencies have similar policies to prevent information from getting out prematurely that may interfere with investigations or other police business

Then it comes down, as you might expect, in favor of lifting the gag order, which, despite Clarke's explanation, was issued two days after his order putting Deputy Michael Schuh on a one-man central city patrol fell into the hands of the newspaper. That's "official agency business," but there is no reason in the world it should be confidential. Do you think Clarke planned to announce that assignment, which he has since tried to dress up as a policy initiative? Of course not. As we said here earlier, Clarke needs to recognize that he's operating in a democracy.