FOIL rules and regulations (Binghamton Police Department)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New York State Freedom of Information Law (1977 N.Y. Laws ch. 933), I hereby request the following records:

A copy of the rules, regulations and policies for access to agency records under the Freedom of Information Law.

According to New York PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW, ARTICLE 6, Section 87(b):

"Each agency shall promulgate rules and regulations, in conformity with this article and applicable rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, and pursuant to such general rules and regulations as may be promulgated by the committee on open government in conformity with the provisions of this article, pertaining to the availability of records and procedures to be followed, including, but not limited to:

i. the times and places such records are available;
ii. the persons from whom such records may be obtained; and
iii. the fees for copies of records."

The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, and is not being made for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Lesser

Hello,

The documents sent in response to this request for the FOIL rules and regulations of the Binghamton Police Department seem to be printouts of electronic documents. In fact, a printout of a webpage is one of the documents provided.

If such is likewise the case for the remainder of the responsive documents, please provide them in their original electronic format, per the original request. Please also revise the fee (see attached) for this FOIL in light of the fact that at least some of the documents provided did not need to be printed and mailed.

Thank you.

Thank you for the quick response. Who is the contact at BPD for FOIL requests?

Captain Ryan -

Per Mr. Pelletier indicated that you are the appropriate person to contact with FOIL questions for BPD. In response to the below request for the department's FOIL rules and regulations, BPD provided the attached documents and corresponding invoice.

However, it seems that many if not all of the documents provided are printouts of either a webpage or electronic documents that were not redacted in any way. Please confirm whether this is the case. If so, please provide electronic copies (or URL in the case of the webpage) per the original request, and revise the fee.

Thank you.

Captain Ryan -

Apologies — attached.

Thank you.

Captain Ryan -

Thank you for getting back to me. As indicated in the previous message, the original FOIL request indicated that the preferred means of receiving these records is in electronic format. Please confirm whether the records provided are available in electronic format, and if so, please send them accordingly.

Thank you.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 31, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Hello -

As noted, 4 of the 8 pages sent were printouts of a webpage — http://www.binghamton-ny.gov/foil-request-form. This is clearly available in electronic format.

Another page was a standard FOIL request form, which was presumably maintained in digital format for printing out as needed.

The remaining three pages seem to contain passages that were cut and pasted from a policy manual, or else hand-typed into a new document that also refers to the present FOIL request itself.

While each page contains initials from the officer who authorized release, each seems to be available in digital or electronic format. As such, under the FOIL statute, each of these document must be released in this format upon request.

As the website is already public, this does not need to be provided again. But please send the request form (or provide a URL where it can be downloaded) as well as an electronic copy of the police department's two policies pertaining to public records.

Thank you.