Untitled (Department of Justice, Executive Office for United States Attorneys)

To Whom It May Concern:

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

(1) The records from investigations referencing the shooting of Laquan McDonald. Given the nature of this request, please conduct a cross-reference search based on Mr. McDonald's name. Here is background information to assist you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Laquan_McDonald.

(2) The records from investigations of Jason Van Dyke, Thomas Gaffney, Joseph Walsh, David March. These are Chicago police officers involved in the Laquan McDonald shooting and have all been tried in state court. I'm looking for records from any investigations of these officers, though, not just related to the McDonald shooting. You can limit this to records in which these people were the subject of an investigation and need not do a cross-reference search.

(3) The records from investigations of the Chicago Police Department as an entity. This request number 3 is not looking for records of investigations into individual officers, but investigations into the entity itself, or the City of Chicago as an entity for things related to the police department. You can limit this to records in which CPD as an entity was the subject of an investigation and need not do a cross-reference search.

The time period is the last 10 years. My request is limited to the Chicago/Northern District of Illinois offices and main headquarters (no other field offices). Please do not redact anything as non-responsive: I want the full records in which any portion is responsive. Emails and attachments should be kept together.

The Justice Department has found that the Chicago Police Department has engaged in a pattern and practice of civil rights violations: https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/925846/download. There is an over-riding public interest in knowing whether the FBI and US Attorney's Office have adequately investigated and prosecuted CPD officers related to this shooting or other potential crimes, and whether there have been criminal investigations into the entity itself. Please note that under binding case law, non-human entities like CPD have no privacy rights under FOIA. I believe that the statute of limitations on any prosecutions related to the Laquan McDonald shooting has passed. The US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has previously acknowledged the existence of a federal investigation related to the McDonald shooting: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-feds-probe-police-shooting-met-20150413-story.html; https://news.wttw.com/2016/02/23/us-attorney-zachary-fardon-discusses-ongoing-federal-probe-cpd.

This request is being made in furtherance of a potential book, for which I am drafting a proposal. Please place me in the appropriate fee category on that basis. This request is not made in connection with my law practice.

I authorize charges of up to $100 total if you do not provide a waiver.

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 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Matthew Topic