Public Agencies that Ain't So Public

The free city newspaper amNY can feel our pain on the public information front. The paper sent FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) requests for the most basic personnel information to 38 city agencies and found that several of them were slow to respond or have not yet fulfilled the request, including the Fire Department, the Department of Education and the Buildings Department. Take a look. Sound familiar, BxNN readers?

Clock Ticking on NYPD Freedom of Information Request for Neighborhood Crime Stats

We’ll keep tallying the days until the NYPD fulfills its duty to provide basic public information to the citizens it has sworn to protect. For more, see here.

Bronx Crime Watch (Editorial): Clock Ticking on NYPD Freedom of Information Request for Neighborhood Crime Stats

Editor's Note: This editorial appeared in last week's issue of the Norwood News. We will continue to display this counter (above) until the NYPD releases sector statistics for every Bronx police precinct.

Editorial: NYPD Hides Neighborhood Crime Stats

The NYPD has been proud to trumpet plummeting crime stats over the last 15 years or so. Citywide and precinct-wide crime stats are easy to come by. But when it comes to information about crime in your neighborhood or on your block, well, not so much.

A little history:

In early 2008, the Norwood News asked James Alles, then commander of the 52nd Precinct, for the previous year’s crime stats broken down broken down by the precinct’s 15 sectors.

No problem, Alles said, directing a lieutenant to print out the stats. It took all of two minutes.

The statistics allowed us to publish a map showing crime trends in specific neighborhoods, something residents have long sought. We received loads of positive feedback from readers.

“Although I feel safe in my neighborhood, evidently our autos are targets,” one reader said. “Is it possible to receive these reports on a sector basis each month? The overall report for the entire precinct does not really inform the public about their own neighborhood.”

Months later, we asked Alles about doing a follow-up piece. He smiled sheepishly and shook his head. He told us the published sector stats had landed him in hot water with NYPD brass and that we would have to go through the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information (DCPI) at police headquarters if we wanted more sector stats.

In December 2008, when we asked for the year’s sector stats, DCPI said we would have to file a formal Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. So, we FOILed. A month later (government agencies are required to respond within five business days of receiving the request) the NYPD wrote us saying they probably had the records but that it would take them three months to dig up the same information that it took the 52nd Precinct two minutes to produce.

By mid-March, three months after filing the request, we wrote an editorial saying the delay was unacceptable. The day the article was published, the NYPD called us and then faxed over the stats. It probably took them two minutes.

Now, here we are again, waiting on the NYPD.

Freedom of Information Push

This might seem like journalistic inside baseball, but it's not. The state Freedom of Information Law applies to everyone. Anyone can file a FOIL request, seeking access to government documents, meeting minutes, etc. if it is not forthcoming from the public agency in question. The state Committee on Open Government, created by the FOIL, reports that its Web site is experiencing a incredible surge in traffic and is calling on the state legislature to strengthen the law with the following provisions:

* Authorize courts to invalidate actions by boards when it is proven that the actions occurred in secret and in violation of Open Meetings Law.

* Require award of attorney's fees when it is proven in court that votes happened illegally.

* Require that government meeting notices be listed online.

* Require that more records be posted online.

The second one is particularly critical because when agencies illegally reject requests or stonewall, the burden is on the person requesting the information to come up with the money to hire a lawyer.

An Assembly committee should be hearing the Committee on Open Government's recommendations soon.

Thanks to Liz Benjamin at the Daily News for the heads up.