State police delay response to request for disciplinary records despite law - The Daily Freeman
A request for disciplinary records for state police patrolling in Ulster and Greene counties is still awaiting an affirmative response from police despite multiple requests since December 2021 and a recent administrative appeal.
On Dec. 1, 2021, the Daily Freeman submitted a request for “a record of complaints, lawsuits and investigations and their outcomes (including written and video records of such outcomes), whether or not they resulted in disciplinary action or reprimand, from 2019 to the present” from Troop F, Zone 3, under the state Freedom of Information Law. Troop F, Zone 3, patrols Ulster and Greene counties.
In a timely emailed acknowledgment of the Freeman’s request, state police Major William H. Gorman stated it had been “forwarded to the appropriate program area(s) to identify documents that are responsive to your request and which may be available pursuant to all provisions of the Freedom of Information Law.”
But Gorman’s letter, dated Dec. 3, 2021, stated that “a determination as to whether your request is granted or denied will be reached by approximately May 25, 2022.”
Disciplinary records for police, firefighters and corrections officers in New York state have theoretically become more easily accessible as a result of a repeal of a state Civil Rights law in response to nationwide demands for transparency concerning such records. That demand was sparked by the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, a black man, by a white Minneapolis, Minn., police officer, Derek Chauvin. A jury convicted the now-former officer of murder and manslaughter charges in 2021.
The request to state police was made under the provisions of the state Freedom of Information Law and was one of several made to local police agencies by the Freeman. To date, stories have been written about the Kingston and Saugerties police and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, all of whom complied with requests that were similar to the one sent to state police in December.
In a Dec. 3, 2021, email, Kristen O’Neill, assistant director of the state Committee on Open Government, said agencies “can acknowledge FOIL and give a timeline for a yes or no. But I’d argue six months for a yes or no is unreasonable.”
In a Dec. 6 email, O’Neill wrote, “if an agency requires more than 20 business days from the date of the acknowledgment to respond to a FOIL request, it is authorized as long as the agency provides a reason for the delay and a date certain by which it will respond that is reasonable under the circumstances of the request.”
On Dec. 14, 2021; Feb. 18 and March 23, Gorman was sent follow-up emails requesting a “date certain” by which state police would respond. On March 31, in accordance with advice from the Committee on Open Government, he was sent an administrative appeal of the apparent denial of access.
None of the Freeman emails written on and since Dec. 14 have received any response from Gorman.
source: https://www.dailyfreeman.com/2022/04/02/state-police-delays-response-to-request-for-disciplinary-records-despite-law/
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