Dec
15
FOIA and persistence
December 15, 2008 |
By Sarah Rigg
I have only one semi-interesting story about the Freedom of Information Act during my time as a staff reporter.
There was, once upon a time, a scandal in the police department of the small town I was reporting in. There were accusations that a couple of long-serving cops were doctoring their time sheets and charging for time they weren’t actually working- essentially, defrauding the department. Accusations flew back the other way that the new police chief was trying to push the older cops out of the force so he could hire in younger, more pliable cops who would come in at a lower pay rate.
I FOIA’ed for the documentation related to the investigation of the two officers’ activities. The chief claimed he couldn’t give them to me because personnel records were exempt from FOIA. I countered that I didn’t want personnel records, but only any police reports he’d written about the investigation-surely if the charge was serious enough to prosecute two respected police officers there must have been reports filed on the investigation? I asked the lawyer for the media company I worked for to intervene. The city’s attorney wrote back. It continued in this vein for months.
Finally, I did receive the two-page police report I’d asked for- days after the court case was settled. I can only imagine how much more difficult things might have been if I’d been an independent journalist blogger at the time instead of a reporter for a small newspaper that was part of a larger chain. My only consolation is that I won second prize in the Michigan Press Association’s “Better Newspaper” contest for the series of articles I wrote on the scandal, investigation and trial.
In the end, I’m not sure what lessons can be gained from my experience. Perhaps one is that you should be very confident that the material you’re asking for is subject to a FOIA request. If you are sure- don’t back down. The second lesson I learned is that, on touchy subjects you may have to be very persistent– even pesty– to get officials to comply with FOIA requests. Finally, you shouldn’t be surprised if they try methods to side-step your request or put you off indefinitely.
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