How to expedite a FOIL request from NYS Albany Police Dept.
Asked by Dana Favreau on October 9, 2017.
1 answer from Michael Morisy.
I am seeking copies of all statements made related to incident # 16-463211. On 10/6/16 I was threatened imminent bodily harm by a supervisor on the job, it triggered a medical issue and I pressed charges against supervisor. Charges were dismissed from a criminal aspect however, employer is now retaliating against me by disciplinary procedure, under Article 33 of NYS and Civil Service Employees Association alleging that I made false and misleading statements against this supervisor. I have had a pre-hearing with my Union and there are statements made against me that I was never made aware of which are not brought about. It is important to have access to police reports that employees originally made that might conflict to what they are alleging now.
There is no expedited processing, but indicating the date that you need to the documents by can sometimes hurry the agency up. If there is an excessive delay, I find a good first step is getting the records officer on the phone can help get you an estimated completion date, or they can offer ways to reduce the time it would take to get you back responsive documents.
If that fails, the [New York Committee on Open Government](https://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/) can often be helpful in getting agencies to provide documents. It seems like a fairly straight forward request, however, so hopefully a hone call can help push them to open up.