
If every time you were caught speeding you knew that you would never get fined, would you change your behavior and slow down? Most likely not since you know there would be no repercussions to your actions.
That is pretty much the reason many municipalities, Hartford included, seem to not take the Freedom of Information Commission seriously.
Let me just state this up front to make this clear, the staff members at the FOI Commission Office are some of the most helpful people that I have ever dealt with on the State level. They are always responsive when I call to ask a question and they go out of their way to provide decisions to support one side or the other.
The actual members of the Commission are a totally different case. Their decisions many times seem to defy common sense and they seem terrified to actually impose fines even when the FOI decisions are clearly a violation of the FOI law. The first time a violation occurs by a City or town I can understand their intent to educate, but aren't they tired of seeing the City of Hartford at the table in front of them defending their defiance of the FOI laws?
The sad part is that the FOI laws are not difficult to interpret, a quick search of the FOI website will usually provide a similar case that should answer any questions as to whether documents can be denied to the public or not.
A recent case is attached below where I requested documents from the Hartford Police Department and was denied the documents. The Corporation Counsel's Office claimed that the documents were exempt under the law because they were "part of an ongoing investigation". Apparently they forgot to read the rest of the statute where it states when those documents can result in criminal charges. In the documents I had requested it was clear that they were purely an administrative matter and there was no criminal matters involved. HPD Internal Affairs Commander Lt. Rob Davis even testified to that at the FOI hearing.
In another matter when I had requested documents under an FOI request, it was stated by a City Official "make him go through FOI to get it. It will be at least a year before he gets it and then it won't be worth anything". Maybe some fines and some backbone on the part of the FOI Commission members might change that type of thinking.
FOI Final Decision Dailey
