City Police limit access to records, defend practice

Did you know that when a person is arrested, you are entitled to all information about the crime that was committed, barring four exceptions? In other words, under New York state law, the crime becomes public information.

But Plattsburgh City Police have denied Cardinal Points access to at least two different police reports that should have been released, at least in part, according to the Committee on Open Government, a governmental body that advises citizens and government officials about the Freedom of Information Law, also known as FOIL.

City Police also insists that anyone making a request use a FOIL application issued by the department, which the committee said is also improper.

Cardinal Points requested four police reports for a story on high-profile crimes that ran on Sept. 26. Upon approaching police for this article, about three weeks after the original request was made, only one was released. Another had been sealed by the court, and the other two the investigations are still open.

But the law states that this type of blanket denial is illegal. Police have a right to withhold information from the public in only four cases: when documents contain information that would interfere with law enforcement investigations or judicial proceedings; deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or impartial adjudication; identify a confidential source or disclose confidential information relating to a criminal investigation; or reveal criminal investigative techniques or procedures, except routine techniques and procedures.

Although the two police reports might have contained some of this information, the law states that police must redact, or remove, this information and release the rest.

Camille Jobin-Davis, assistant director of the Committee on Open Government, said the burden of redacting this information lies with the police department. She also said that when an arrest is made in association with a crime, police must release any portion of that information that does not fall under the specific exemptions of the law.

Another issue, Jobin-Davis said, is that a department cannot require the public to use any specific form or application, which the Plattsburgh city police department does. The law states that a written request must be made only in the event that a verbal request is denied. If an agency refuses to accept your written request, that is the same as a denial, Jobin-Davis said.

And if you want to be explicit when making your request, you will need to write it yourself rather than using the department's application because it is missing information that could help you get your record. The department's forms fail to point to the specific section of the law that you are citing, don't specify how long the department has to respond to your request, list nothing about pointing to the specific statutory exemption when a request is denied and list nothing about providing you with seperated portions of otherwise exempt material, all of which could help you get your record.

Also an issue is that the City Police require the public to FOIL a police report every time one is requested, without exception.

In an interview with Chief Desmond Racicot and Capt. Michael Branch, both officers said they require these FOIL requests in order to make sure they're "releasing records properly."

Branch said it would be impossible to release a police report upon a verbal request.

"There's no way internally for us to do that," he said, referring to the process of pulling a record to find out if it's still under investigation.

But Racicot said the department is not trying to keep the public ignorant of its right to information.

"The goal is always to release information unless we come across a barrier," Branch said.

Both officers stressed that press releases on crimes are always available, and both said they are happy to answer questions, a statement that Michelle Haynes, photo editor of Cardinal Points, and Lois Clermont, news editor of the Press-Republican, disagree with.

While working on a story for a journalism class, Haynes said she was told by a dispatcher that the department couldn't give out any information, a problem she said many students in her class were having.

Clermont also said City Police are not cooperative at the station. She said that when she calls, she asks for Racicot directly since she finds him to be the most helpful.

"They are very tight with their information," she said.