Are there reports or not?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
July 3, 2009

On June 18th I wrote about some kids who got stopped by deputies on Route 31, just south of Route 176.

The response to my FOIA Request was a computer print-out with three names and a denial of other information. I have appealed the denial and requested the reports that were written.

It's my understanding that, whenever a person or a vehicle is searched by a McHenry County Sheriff's deputy, a report is to be written. A witness has reported to me that two boys were searched and their pockets emptied, and a girl's purse was dumped on the ground.

I suspect that the General Orders at the Sheriff's Department about reports when people or vehicles are searched are not "write a report if you want to" or "if you have time."

I have requested the Report Numbers, if the Sheriff's Department believes it can lawfully deny providing copies of any reports. Although I requested the reports even if heavily redacted, I began wondering whether there might not even be any reports. I'd like to be wrong. Within a few days I'll know.