BLM comms (Cook County Sheriff)

Dear Emma,
We received your request for password assistance on 06/08/2020 12:36 PM. Below is your temporary password. Please use it to access your account online. When you access your account, please create a permanent password that only you can remember. Login: requests@muckrock.com Temporary Password: 783f3f7136064c0 This is an auto-generated email and has originated from an unmonitored email account. Please DO NOT REPLY

Hello Emma,
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Dear Emma Best:
Thank you for your interest in public records of the Cook County Sheriff's Office. Your request was received in this office on 6/8/2020 and given the reference number R008892-060820 for tracking purposes.
Your request will be forwarded to the relevant department(s) to locate the information you seek and to determine the volume and any costs associated with satisfying your request. You will be contacted about the availability and/or provided with copies of the records in question.

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RE: FOIA Request of June 08, 2020, Reference # R008892-060820

Dear Emma Best,

Thank you for contacting the Cook County Sheriff's Office ("CCSO") pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (2012).

Your request mentioned:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

Emails, letters, and memos to or from police/law enforcement unions, the National Guard, or federal officials between May 1, 2020 and the present.

I also request copies of emails containing any of the following: "protest", "protests", "Black Lives Matter", "BLM", "riot", "riots", "antifa", "antifascist", "anti-fascist", or "militia".

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, 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,

Emma Best

Please be advised that the CCSO is extending its time for response pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/3 as documents responsive to your request are still being generated. Please note that this correspondence does not serve to waive any exemptions available to this public body under FOIA. The CCSO will issue a response on or before 6/22.

Please contact us by replying to this email if you have any further concerns/questions related to this request.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Scannell
Assistant General Counsel
Cook County Sheriff's Office
FOIA Officer/Legal Department

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RE: FOIA Request of June 08, 2020, Reference # R008892-060820

Dear Emma Best,
Thank you for contacting the Cook County Sheriff's Office ("CCSO") pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (2012).
Your request mentioned:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

Emails, letters, and memos to or from police/law enforcement unions, the National Guard, or federal officials between May 1, 2020 and the present.

I also request copies of emails containing any of the following: "protest", "protests", "Black Lives Matter", "BLM", "riot", "riots", "antifa", "antifascist", "anti-fascist", or "militia".

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, 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,

Emma Best
Please be advised that at this time the CCSO asks that you narrow your request as compliance would be overly broad and unduly burdensome, pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/3(g).  We would like to extend you the opportunity to confer with our office in order to reduce your request to manageable proportions.  Please respond with a narrowed response, such as by narrowing the search terms or specifying email custodians, or provide a time you are available to conference call with our office in order to discuss your request.  If we do not hear from you within five (5) business days, your request will be treated as closed. Keywords: "protest" OR "protests" OR "Black Lives Matter" OR "BLM" OR "riot" OR "riots" OR "antifa" OR "antifascist" OR "anti-fascist" OR "militia" Date Range: 05/01/2020 – To Present Total Estimated Results: 118,346
Please contact us by replying to this email if you have any further concerns/questions related to this request.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Scannell
Assistant General Counsel
Cook County Sheriff's Office
FOIA Officer/Legal Department