LMPD officer hit by vehicle; 2 arrested

I am referring to this article

http://www.wdrb.com/story/36023803/former-officer-once-accused-of-murder-applies-for-job-with-lmpd

"According to an application, obtained by WDRB News through an open records request, Mattingly applied as a "lateral police officer" with LMPD in July. As a lateral hire, Mattingly would not have to go through training with the police academy."

How in the world is an application subject to public records requests? No way do people applying for metro jobs believe they are giving consent to have their applications released to the news media. I would seek legal counsel if this happened to me, personally. The public statements have tainted other hiring agencies as well. Can you imagine this being done in the private sector?