Can the police refuse to give you the police report?

What is the name of your state? Michigan
Can the police refuse to give you a copy of a police report when it comes to the death of someone in your family?

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Originally posted by forbiddenangel
What is the name of your state? Michigan
Can the police refuse to give you a copy of a police report when it comes to the death of someone in your family?

My response:

Sure they can, and they will refuse, while the incident is under investigation for criminal action. After the investigation, and all other matters are closed, then the report(s) can be purchased and released.

IAAL

The case was closed about two weeks later. I specifically asked them if the case was closed, and they said yes. I thought according to the freedom of information act that they would have to release it but they refuse. They told me there is no way that they no of that I can get my hands on it because of criminal records in the report.

Based upon the facts you provided in your posting, there is no legal reason why you would be prevented from obtaining the police reports you seek.

You may want to remind your local law enforcement agency of their legal duty to release public information upon request, and the penalties for failing to do so.

[dequeendistress]

Please post a link to the Freedom of Information Law/Act for New York.

[url]http://www.nycosh.org/foil.html[/url]

[url]http://archive.aclu.org/library/foia.html[/url]

[url]http://www.missouri.edu/~foiwww/citelist.html[/url]

[dequeendistress]

Thank you krispenstpeter! Now let us hope that these links are used by the op!

[CdwJava]

As a caveat, there me be other laws in your state that restrict or prohibit the release of those investigations. It may be that the next of kin has a right to the police report but not others. It may also be that the investigating agency is not really the police department but the local medical examiner or coroner and THAT is the agency that must authorize its release.

In CA the laws can be a little convoluted when the investigations crosses over into some of the "forbidden" release areas. It may be that you will have to retain an attorney to request the documents. And also consider that while the case may be "closed" it may not be resolved yet, and they could be of the opinion that the relase of the report might jeopardize an arrest or prosecution in the case.

Just some thoughts.

Carl

[gryndor]

Day:

You cannot just hijack somebody else's thread like that. You need to remove your post and post it as a new thread.

Go to your post. Press EDIT button at bottom of post. Hit Delete Post, give a reason if you want to. Make sure you've copied the text of the post in this thread so you don't have to re-type it all. Now, go to the catagory in which your problem would be best described and press the button at the top that says POST A NEW MESSAGE. Paste your text and hit submit.

Voila!

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by gryndor

Day:

You cannot just hijack somebody else's thread like that. You need to remove your post and post it as a new thread.

Go to your post. Press EDIT button at bottom of post. Hit Delete Post, give a reason if you want to. Make sure you've copied the text of the post in this thread so you don't have to re-type it all. Now, go to the catagory in which your problem would be best described and press the button at the top that says POST A NEW MESSAGE. Paste your text and hit submit.

Voila!

**A: I copied this to use later on another writer hijacker.

[Day]

Oregon,

SORRY!! I wasn't trying to "hijack" anything! I just couldn't figure out my way around this site! I'm still having trouble. I will go back and try following your advice. Sometimes I click on something on this site and it takes me somewhere totally out there, nothing to do with where I'm trying to go! I didn't know how else to get a post on.

--Day