Rantoul, Illinois Attempts to Conceal All Past Police Complaints

On January 21^st, 2022 Check CU sent a public records request to Village of Rantoul Clerk and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer Janet Gray seeking police complaints from 2010 through 2018.  Gray passed the request off to Village Attorney David Wesner who, after unlawfully delaying his response for more than two months, fully denied the records.

Complaints against police officers and other public employees are not exempt under the Illinois FOIA.  Rantoul is already being sued for unlawfully denying police complaints.

Courts have consistently held that complaints against police officers are not exempt under FOIA.  The Illinois Attorney General has also consistently held the same position.  Just two weeks ago, a Binding Opinion was issued by the Public Access Counselor indicating that the City of Chicago had violated FOIA by refusing to release complaints made against City employees.

The denial letter issued by Rantoul, Illinois Village Attorney David Wesner (of the Champaign, Illinois law firm Evans, Froehlich, Beth, & Chamley) is provided below.  The letter is dated March 28^th, 2022 but was not emailed until April 4^th, 2022.

Rantoul Sued for Concealing Past Police Complaints