Sheriff Keeps Name of Officer Secret, for Now: The Polk County sheriff received a temporary injunction Thursday to stop The Ledger from publishing the name of an undercover officer who shot and killed a man during a July 26 drug raid. [...] The officer shot and killed Jason Michael Britt, 22, during a raid on Britt's home in Lakeland. Sheriff's officials say Britt was shot after he threatened the officer with a baseball bat and refused to drop it. Because the officer works undercover, sheriff's officials have refused to release his name. It is the first time in memory that a Polk police agency has not disclosed the name of an officer who killed someone.

OK, work with me here: doesn't releasing the name of the person that was shot effectively release the name of the officer? I mean, they have to make that a matter of public record, correct? There will be an investigation and all sorts of brouhaha -- undercover or not, refusing even to investigate or put the results in a public record would be to state that under some circumstances, the police cannot be held accountable for what they do, which isn't possible. So ... how do they avoid releasing the name of the officer anyway?