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So when Teper acknowledges it’s unlikely we’ll ever find out who was involved here or the remedies taken to address it, such as discipline, he has the law on his side.

On the specific question of why the trooper’s name wasn’t released, Teper says it’s his troop policy not to release troopers’ names when there’s no crime associated with an incident. And, even if state police incident reports were public record, it wouldn’t help here.

Teper said no incident report was completed.

Anything documented in this case is being done so in the internal investigation record, which by state police standards and state law isn’t available to the public.

That’s not to say state police couldn’t use discretion in releasing information that’s in the public interest. In other words, authorities could release the trooper’s name and any findings to assure the public about the integrity of the investigation and the safety of the barracks.

Or, as letter writer Mike Chunko of Easton succinctly put it last week in inquiring about the unidentified trooper:

"If he can't ensure his own safety, how can he ensure ours?"

When I suggested a double standard exists because my name would have been released had I accidentally shot myself outside my workplace, Teper wouldn’t budge.

"Every circumstance is different,"

he said. For example, a citizen wounded by an accidental discharge while cleaning his gun may not merit public disclosure because of the absence of a crime, he said.

I asked Teper if the public will ever receive an accounting of what happened that day or what investigators concluded in their internal probe. He passed the buck.

I suppose I could have dialed up Harrisburg to ask about that.

But I think we already know the answer.