FOIA - unnecessary roadblock?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
July 23, 2010

Or is it just a speed bump?

Yesterday I was trying to learn who the three drivers were, who were involved in the crash on Greenwood Road, north of Route 120. That's the one where one driver apparently stopped when he saw an oncoming squad car using its emergency equipment. The car behind that driver rear-ended him, forcing the first car into path of the squad car, which then left the road and hit a tree.

Bull Valley P.D. is the investigating agency, since the crash occurred in their jurisdiction.

When I called yesterday, I was directed to file a FOIA request, and I did.

I called back this morning for the drivers' names, and the buck was passed to the FOIA officer, although the person who answered the phone said he would try to expedite the response. At Bull Valley P.D., the person who answers the phone (or makes a call) doesn't identify himself.

The point is that a FOIA request never should have been necessary in the first place. The Northwest Herald hasn't published the names in either its print or online edition, so it must not have the names, either. If it published the names, I wouldn't be calling; I'd just read them there, along with everyone else.

Governments use FOIA to stone-wall and to impede the flow of information. A few months ago, when I made that statement, I thought for a moment they would become "fighting words", because the particular government official strongly objected to my assertion. However, that's exactly what governments do.

The Freedom of Information Act is the tool that the legislature gave the public to pry information out of the government. If government operated in a mode of transparency, then FOIA wouldn't be necessary.

What's the secret about the names of three drivers in a crash? Each was treated and released from the hospital. It's not like somebody died and police have to track down next-of-kin.

In this case there is another accident or incident that is of interest to me, and that's where the deputy was hurrying when he had the crash on Greenwood Road.

How many deputies were running "hot" to that call? Were all of them needed? Who decides whether a deputy runs hot? Does the deputy decide? Does a supervisor have to approve a "hot" response? Can the deputy run "hot", just because he is some (far) distance away? Should the farthest-away deputies "shut down" after the first deputy or two arrive at the scene?