Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

After the Attorney General’s office chose to not pursue any criminal charges in the illegal sale of seized firearms by the former Sheriff Don Koonce, we requested all the investigation files to include the taped interviews so that we could try to understand how a law enforcement officer selling seized guns to himself and his employees resulted in zero action being taken by the Attorney General.

That request resulted in our filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Illinois State Police, (ISP) who refused to provide the recordings, even though they had in multiple past requests for investigation recordings.  As covered in these articles, it was apparent after listening to the actual interviews the stories were not adding up and there was zero follow-up to validate what the ISP was told by the parties involved.

The ISP lost their attempts in court to suppress the recorded interviews and now there is closure to our FOIA case through an agreed settlement for our attorney fees of $20,622.93.  For the record, not one penny of that goes to our organization.

This is not the first time ISP has had to fork out funds due to non-compliance with our state transparency law known as the Freedom of Information Act. As in all cases, it is the taxpayers who take the hit.  It appears from past practice that the ISP do not care if they comply with FOIA, whether our request or others, they have become one of the most notable public agencies who routinely fail to comply.  Dolton, Illinois might be worse.

For those who face FOIA request issues with public bodies in this state, we urge the following steps.

• If the response from the public body is not compliant with the law, reach out to the public body’s legal representative to first try to resolve the matter. This often avoids further burden placed on the Attorney General Public Access Counselor’s office.
• Ask the Attorney General PAC office for a request for review.  This typically triggers further inquiry that often ends back in the lap of the public body’s legal representative to deal with.  This is why we urge trying to resolve it through the public body’s legal representative before going to the PAC.
• You have the right to file a complaint in the circuit court for relief.  There are attorneys more than willing to take on these types of cases because of the fee provision in the law.  While this step does cost taxpayers, it seems to be the only way to drive the message home that the people’s records belong to the people and can not be improperly withheld.