Court Orders Public Release of Records Relating to Police Shooting of a Minor
Last week, the First Circuit
decided NBC
Subsidiary (WMAQ-TV) LLC v. Chicago Police Department, a case addressing FOIA and the confidentiality provisions of the
Juvenile Court Act (JCA).
In July 2014, Chicago Police
Department police officers fatally shot a 16-year-old after he pointed a
firearm at the officers on numerous occasions. There were several witnesses to
the shooting, and the independent police review board in Chicago subsequently
released basic details of the incident including the minor’s name, the date and
time of the incident, and the type of incident. In January 2016, WMAQ filed a
FOIA request with the CPD, requesting “all police reports, case reports, case
incident reports and supplemental reports filed in the police shooting.” CPD
denied the request arguing that the JCA barred disclosure of these records to
WMAQ as it was not an “authorized party” entitled to access of the records. After
CPD denied the FOIA request, WMAQ filed a request for review with the Public
Access Counselor (PAC).
In February 2016, the PAC issued
a nonbinding determination letter that concluded the CPD violated FOIA by
withholding records concerning the investigation into the police shooting death
of the minor. The PAC stated that the CPD had to disclose records that involved
the investigation into whether the homicide of the minor was justifiable.
The CPD did not produce the
records and WMAQ filed suit, seeking disclosure of all reports filed in the
matter. The circuit court ruled in WMAQ’s favor, holding that the JCA’s
prohibitions against unauthorized disclosure did not apply to the records of
the investigation of the conduct of the police officers involved in the
shooting of the minor.
On appeal, CPD asserted that the
plain language of the JCA prohibited the disclosure of the requested records because
WMAQ did not obtain a court order, and because the records were confidential
since the victim of the shooting was a minor.
The Appellate Court ruled in
favor of WMAQ and ordered release of the records. The Court rejected the CPD’s
interpretation of the JCA as too broad since the purpose of the JCA is to
protect the privacy of minors and not to shield alleged misconduct of public
employees from public view. The Court stated that WMAQ was not required to
obtain a court order to review the records because the records related to the
investigation of police officers and did not relate to “the investigation,
arrest, or custodial detention” of the minor in this case - an essential basis
for confidentiality under the JCA. Finally, the Court rejected the CPD’s
argument that the records of the independent police review board were wholly exempt
from disclosure because the Act was amended in 2009 to provide independent
agencies who investigate police conduct access to law enforcement records that relate
to minors who have been investigated, arrested, or detained in custody.
Post Authored by Ashton Tunk & Julie Tappendorf, Ancel Glink
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