HARRISBURG — Incident reports filed by Pennsylvania state troopers do not have to be released to the public, Commonwealth Court ruled Thursday in a reversal of the state open records office.

The 6-1 majority ruling said the forms are covered by an exception to the Right-to-Know Law that allows agencies to withhold criminal investigative records.

The case involves a February 2009 request by the Potter Leader-Enterprise for a complete incident report about a fight. Commonwealth Court found that the incident report did not amount to a police blotter, which are public records, and therefore did not have to be released.

"The incident report is not a 'chronological listing of arrests,"' wrote Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer. "Rather, it is a description of an investigation by the PSP into a complaint of criminal activity."

The document included notes of interviews with a witness and the people involved, as well as boxes for troopers to check off if a suspect could be named, fingerprints were collected or there was a "unique unusual method of operation," Jubelirer said.

Donald Gilliland, who at the time was the Leader-Enterprise's managing editor, filed a request for additional information after being handed a press release that did not name the two people involved.

Lt. Myra Taylor said the ruling "emboldened and relieved" the state police.