FOIA request question

[chaser102]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

Hello all,

I recently filed a FOI with my local police department to obtain a copy of a police report of a death investigation of my brother in 1994. First they told me they have no records of any such investigation and only after persistent requests from myself did they finally acknowledge having the report. They refused to give me any information about the investigation and said they could only release that information to the (my) parents. Can they deny me that report even though I am an immediate family member of the deceased?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[CdwJava]

What are you hoping to find in a nearly two decade old report, assuming they DO have it? And, unless it was a homicide of some kind, the police involvement may be very cursory to the point that it might simply be a one or two page affair essentially saying that they came, they saw, and they turned the remains over to the Coroner or to a mortuary.

And, unless an open criminal matter, the report could very well have been purged after 19 years. If they actually possess this report, they have a heck of a records storage system. Most agencies I know would have destroyed it after this long unless it was an unresolved criminal matter.

Check this:

http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/government/FOIA_guide.pdf

 

[chaser102]

Thanks for the response

The cause of death was undetermined by the coroner. I was very young at the time and am curious as to what is in the police report, if anything. The police department has the report that I want, they have told me they have it. My parents do not live in Illinois. Am I not entitled to that report as I am an immediate family member?

 

[justalayman]

The cause of death was undetermined by the coroner. I was very young at the time and am curious as to what is in the police report, if anything. The police department has the report that I want, they have told me they have it. My parents do not live in Illinois. Am I not entitled to that report as I am an immediate family member?

I suspect I have a right to the report if I choose to seek it. Public records subject to the FOIA are available to anybody willing to make the request. Unless there is a specific reason, a reason the law specifies, they must provide a copy of the information requested. If they do deny your request, the law dictates the provide you with a written denial and must provide the specific section of law that allows the denial.

(5 ILCS 140/9) (from Ch. 116, par. 209)
Sec. 9. (a) Each public body or head of a public body denying a request for public
records shall notify by letter the person making the request of the decision to deny such, the
reasons for the denial, and the names and titles or positions of each person responsible for the54
denial. Each notice of denial by a public body shall also inform such person of his right to
appeal to the head of the public body. Each notice of denial of an appeal by the head of a public
body shall inform such person of his right to judicial review under Section 11 of this Act.
(b) When a request for public records is denied on the grounds that the records are
exempt under Section 7 of this Act, the notice of denial shall specify the exemption claimed to
authorize the denial. Copies of all notices of denial shall be retained by each public body in a
single central office file that is open to the public and indexed according to the type of
exemption asserted and, to the extent feasible, according to the types of records requested.

did they provide you such a letter?

 

[CdwJava]

The cause of death was undetermined by the coroner. I was very young at the time and am curious as to what is in the police report, if anything. The police department has the report that I want, they have told me they have it. My parents do not live in Illinois. Am I not entitled to that report as I am an immediate family member?

They may have A report, but unless it was investigated as a homicide it may have very little or nothing in it. Unless they are investigating it as a crime or even as a suicide, the police tend to spend very little time on deaths.

I suspect that the report should be a matter of public record unless they can cite an exception to the law requiring its release. Have you looked through the handbook I provided you a link to?