New York Police Agree to Take Public Records Requests by Email (original) (raw)
New York|New York Police Agree to Take Public Records Requests by Email
Advertisement
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
A police officer with a high-powered sound cannon during a protest in Times Square in 2014. Records related to the Police Department’s use of such devices was at the heart of a lawsuit that was settled on Thursday.Credit...John Minchillo/Associated Press
- June 29, 2017
The Police Department has settled a lawsuit over its compliance with the state Freedom of Information law by agreeing to accept and handle record requests by email and to create a written description of its procedures for doing so.
The department’s approach to transparency has been under public scrutiny, and the settlement ends a suit filed last year in State Supreme Court by a man who had made a half-dozen requests for police records related to the use of a powerful sound cannon known as a Long Range Acoustic Device.
The man, Keegan Stephan, said in the suit that the department failed to justify withholding the records he requested and that a “policy and practice” not to accept or respond to Freedom of Information requests by email violated a 2006 provision of New York State law. Mr. Stephan also argued that by not allowing email requests, the police had increased “the time, effort, and expense involved” in obtaining records.
Under the terms of the settlement, which was approved by a judge on Thursday, the Police Department denied any “liability or wrongdoing” but agreed to turn over to Mr. Stephan, a Cardozo Law School student, material it had previously withheld. That includes an instructor guide, lesson plan and training document related to the sound cannons; charts listing times when the devices were deployed or requested from 2011 to 2014; and email communications regarding the devices.
The department also agreed to accept Freedom of Information requests sent to a designated email address, accept follow-up correspondence sent to the same address, provide requested information by email, when possible, or compact disc, include in communications an email address for an appeals officer and handle appeals by email.
The department will also revise its website to include a list of records it maintains and links to the state Committee on Open Government website and relevant provisions of the state Public Officers Law, and will produce a memorandum to “set forth procedures for receiving and responding” to Freedom of Information requests and appeals and providing electronic versions of records.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement