Granted: Agency required to search and copy requested records
Granted: Records relating to a
Shippensburg police officer who was dismissed
from the department in 1949. The borough
initially granted access but required the
requester to search for and copy the records
himself, saying that the staff shortages kept it
from searching and copying the records itself.
From
the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition
Granted: Records relating to a Shippensburg police officer who was dismissed from the department in 1949.
The borough initially granted access but required the requester to search for and copy the records himself, saying that the staff shortages kept it from searching and copying the records itself.
The requester, in his appeal to the Office of Open Records, said that he had health issues that prevented him from being able to travel to the borough and review the files, and argued that the department's decision resulted in a denial of access to the records.
The department subsequently agreed to assign a temporary summer employee to look for the records.
In its ruling, the Office of Open Records noted that the agency had provided no legal support for its initial decision to require the requester to search and copy the records himself. It also noted that it failed to provide appeal instructions to the requester, as required by the law.
In addressing the agency's initial response, the OOR noted that merely providing access to records does not satisfy an agency's duty under the RTKL.
"To give full effect to the RTKL, it must be construed to entail the agency duplicate the records request, and furnish copies to a requester once the appropriate fees are paid," the OOR wrote, citing its earlier ruling in Zubey vs. Department of Environmental Protection, AP2009-0141.
The OOR directed the agency to continue its search for the requested records and to provide any copies of the requested records to the requester, with any nonpublic information redacted.
Maxwell vs. Shippensburg Police Department -- AP 2009-0334
Granted: Records relating to a Shippensburg police officer who was dismissed from the department in 1949.
The borough initially granted access but required the requester to search for and copy the records himself, saying that the staff shortages kept it from searching and copying the records itself.
The requester, in his appeal to the Office of Open Records, said that he had health issues that prevented him from being able to travel to the borough and review the files, and argued that the department's decision resulted in a denial of access to the records.
The department subsequently agreed to assign a temporary summer employee to look for the records.
In its ruling, the Office of Open Records noted that the agency had provided no legal support for its initial decision to require the requester to search and copy the records himself. It also noted that it failed to provide appeal instructions to the requester, as required by the law.
In addressing the agency's initial response, the OOR noted that merely providing access to records does not satisfy an agency's duty under the RTKL.
"To give full effect to the RTKL, it must be construed to entail the agency duplicate the records request, and furnish copies to a requester once the appropriate fees are paid," the OOR wrote, citing its earlier ruling in Zubey vs. Department of Environmental Protection, AP2009-0141.
The OOR directed the agency to continue its search for the requested records and to provide any copies of the requested records to the requester, with any nonpublic information redacted.
Maxwell vs. Shippensburg Police Department -- AP 2009-0334