NYPD Legal Bureau. Requests for records pursuant to the N.Y. Public Officers Law §§ 87 and 89, also referred to as the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), must contain a description of the records that is sufficiently detailed to enable a search to be conducted. The description of records should include any known information such as type of report, identifying number of report, date of report, precinct of report, location of occurrence described in the report, etc. If arrest records are sought, please include the complete arrest number or name, date of birth, NYSID of the person arrested and the date and precinct of arrest. If records are disclosed, the requester will be responsible for statutory copying fees. To make a FOIL request, please complete the request form found below with the appropriate identifying information for the records that you are seeking access, and mail it to: Back to DCLM HomepageCivil Enforcement Unit | Criminal Section | Civil Section | Legislative Affairs Unit.
FOIA Letter Generator. Records Access Process: Requesting Information Under Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) FOIL'd Again: Why Doesn't the NYPD Want You to Know Anything? It was hard to feign much surprise last month when the New York Times slapped New York's finest with a lawsuit, accusing the department of habitually withholding information and flouting government transparency laws.
In fact, as any reporter would certainly know, one of the city's toughest agencies to crack for information -- even information it's obliged, by law, to cough up -- might be New York's boys in blue. Freedom of Information Law requests (or "FOIL requests," as they're known) are supposed to be a useful tool for the public; immigrants applying for citizenship use them to collect documentation, inmates use them to prove their innocence, reporters use them to uncover wrongdoing, and advocacy groups have used them to gather a breadth of data on subjects like political surveillance, school performance, racial profiling and homelessness.
But ask anyone who's filed a FOIL, and they'll tell you that prying loose information isn't always so simple. Especially, it seems, from the NYPD. New York State | Citizen Guide. New York Times Sues N.Y.P.D. on Access to Information. New York FOIA procedures. Each state varies slightly in the procedures used to gain access to public documents. This article serves to describe specifically the steps used in New York . To read the history and details of New York’s sunshine laws please see: New York Freedom of Information Law . [ edit ] Agencies Affected by New York FOIA Any New York State or municipal department, board, bureau, division, commission, committee, public authority, public corporation, council, office or other governmental entity performing a governmental or proprietary function is subject to the Law. Each of those governmental entities is an "agency. " [ edit ] How to request public records in New York The person within an agency from whom records may be obtained is generally designated the records access officer, and is responsible for coordinating the agency's response to FOIL requests. [ edit ] Contents of Request The request must be made in writing and "reasonably describe" the record.
. [ edit ] Purpose and use [ edit ] Response time. "Your Right to Know" / Your Right to Know. New York State Open Government Laws The Committee on Open Government - Robert J. Freeman, Executive Director The Committee The Committee on Open Government is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Freedom of Information Law (Public Officers Law sections 84-90) and the Open Meetings Law (Public Officers Law sections 100-111). The Freedom of Information Law governs rights of access to government records, while the Open Meetings Law concerns the conduct of meetings of public bodies and the right to attend those meetings. The Committee also oversees the Personal Privacy Protection Law.
Each index to advisory opinions is updated periodically to ensure that interested persons and government agencies have the ability to obtain opinions recently rendered. The text of the Open Meetings Law; Model Rules for Public Bodies; An Article on Boards of Ethics; OML Case Law Summary; Frequently Asked Questions regarding OML; Freedom of Information What is a record? How to Obtain Records.