Disciplinary records and ethics violations, January 27, 2012
20 contributors
Disciplinary records and ethics violations one page introduction.
Links:
- Rep. Young's Privacy Doesn't Trump Right to Learn about DOJ Corruption Inquiry, January 10, 2012
- Let the public in on business, January 26, 2012. Southwestern Illinois College refusing to release information about a fight in faculty offices.
- Md. bill would shield faculty research, policy records, January 24, 2012
- Illinois in 2010, Quinn Vetos FOIA Exemption For Public Employees
- Muck Rock FTC/FCC complaints. FTC/FCC complaints: Depending on agency, can be costly request.
- Illinois FOIA.
- Should We Keep Ethics Investigations Behind Closed Doors?
- Muck Rock request for report on Jeff Perry rejected. Request was rejected on grounds of privacy and ongoing investigation.
Tips:
- Proving that the release of info is in "public interest" ...aids in overriding the personal privacy argument. Effectiveness of argument also varies depending on the judge as well.
- That only works in a few states that allow it, sometimes the exemption holds despite public interest
- Anyone here from Arizona? I've gotten police reports when investigation is still open - without subpoena.
- Oakland dumps lots of records in a "monitored" storage. Sign in to see acknowledged public records, then snoop to see others.
- Allegations can be false and releasing information can jeopardize investigations, tough call.
- Employment grievances are FOIAble, as are disciplinary cases. That's in the Act. (Editor’s note: what state?)
- Employee reviews don't necessarily = personal info, as they comprise part of job for the public.
- In many states, allegations are private but punishments and convictions are public
- In some states, the presumption is misconduct allegations are public. In others because of privacy, the are considered private.
New York
- In NY, searching for State and City employee ethics records are entirely different. NYC > NYS, period.
- NYC: Conflicts of Interest Board - does a decent job housing records & making records accessible in digital form.
- Big exception in NYC is NYPD - they're a pain to get records from. Even their version of an ethics code has to be either FOIA-ed or bought.
- For NYS, it's the new Joint Commission on Public Ethics which are, as per NY law, exempt from FOI and open meeting laws.
- For NYS ethics investigations, unless a case ends up w a charge e.g. a fine, it's not public info. That means if you wanted to know how the ethics committee decided it wasn't worth fining an employee, you'd never know.
- That is a real shame but somewhat understandable to prevent false accusations from getting out
Questions:
- We're speaking of misconduct and corruption, but can/should employee records be used to laud exception gov't employees?
- If anyone has advice on how to get records from the NOLA PD - I've tried certified mail, calling, e-mail...no response.
- Has anyone tried to request documents from complaints about private citizens, i.e. complaints about doctors submitted to governments?
