OFF THE WIRE
copblock.org
Most states have caps as to how much you can be charged for a record. The records may also be subject to Freedom of Information Act. I have had to pay $2 a page to NJSP for a 4 page police report, with 2 blank pages before. If the paper requested thousands and thousands of records going back tens of years the costs can add up. The FBI and FOIA requests as well as a law suit and discovery action may be the way to go.
Submitted by Tim – MilwaukeeCitizenPress
I was recently arrested for filming Milwaukee Police. During my detainment, while handcuffed, I was injured. In preperation for my upcoming city ordinance violation trial and eventual civil suit, I am attempting to obtain as much information about these people as possible. Unfortunately, I must ask them for information which might be financially injurious to their department. How do you think that’s going to go?
The Milwaukee Police Department is embattled with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal for the past several years over open records. For some reason, MPD wants to charge exorbitant fees, I believe now up to $17,500, for records requested by the paper. All the Journal wants to do is know about complaints against cops and figure out who’s lying about our local crime statistics. Are we now at a point that a citizen wanting to check up on their government must be wealthy or supported by a large corporation in order to do so?
I will be interested to see when and if I’m able to obtain the records I’ve requested. There is so much pressure for these cops to open the books that the FBI is now looking into the current issue at hand. Lying about crime statistics.
Fortunately the FBI didn’t have to come far. They’re already here investigating a bunch of cops for sticking their fingers into people bodily ore-faces in search of pot and other, “Contraband.”
One of the people involved is Jason Mucha. I’d be here all day if I were to put up links to all of the allegations against him for the past decade. You’re welcome to google him and see just what a great department MPD isn’t. Maybe they’ll sustain something against him this time, but I doubt it.
Pitchess motions. A pitchess motion is granted by a judge. Named officers in your case all have records of their own. Every complaint ever levied against them are contained in the pitchess motion if granted by your judge. It gets a little dicey when youre representing yourself, as alotta info contained therein is extremely damaging to officers, so usually, when being represented by counsel you will never see the actual dirt. The effects however are blatantly perceptible. In my case, the info was bad enough, a 6 year sentence was reduced to 18 months. In other cases, charges were dropped at the mere mention of a pitchess. The judge will say in the furtherance or interest in justice, but what he means is he cant let that dirt out. Hope this helps.
Oh yeah, pitchess motions are free.
