On November 7th, 2021, Check CU sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Village of Rantoul asking for past police complaints. The request was sent to Rantoul Village Clerk and FOIA Officer Janet Gray.
The records response was handled by Village Attorney David Wesner, who also serves as City Attorney for Urbana, and has served as attorney for Danville and has been hired by the City of Champaign as well.
Wesner fully denied any records on past police complaints, claiming that there was only one complaint from 2019 through 2021, but that the Village did not have to release it.
Wesner said that police complaints were fully exempt under Section 7(1)(n) of the FOIA statute:
Section 7(1)(n) “Records relating to a public body’s adjudication of employee grievances or disciplinary cases; however, this exemption shall not extend to the final outcome of cases in which discipline is imposed.”
Illinois courts have ruled that this exemption does not apply to police complaints – this is fundamental legal knowledge, and Wesner’s invocation of the exemption is nonsensical.
Civil Rights law Firm Loevy & Loevy, based in Chicago, filed a lawsuit with the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Champaign, Illinois. The complaint asks the court to declare that the Village of Rantoul violated FOIA, provide the requested records, and pay attorney’s fees.
The lawsuit, filed on December 16th, 2021, can be viewed here (click image for full 7-page PDF):
The full 7 page lawsuit links to a blank Rantoul Police Complaint form not the court filing document.
The PAC would do well to establish control limits on FOIA denials. ARDC referrals could be made, if necessary. I think it was Simon’s cavalier ‘ya win some ya lose some’ attitude that got my attention.
The link has been fixed. Thanks for pointing it out!
Sure thing. Curiously, the article does not mention civil penalties. Are civil penalties now being typically sought an awarded with FOIA lawsuits?
The lawsuit asks the court for seven things, including civil penalties. Despite the legislature having created civil penalties for FOIA in order to strengthen the FOIA law and curb rampant violations, in practice, civil penalties are almost never rewarded. The closing paragraph of the article names the three of the seven asks which are most likely to actually happen.
Just one complaint in three years? I wonder if that has anything to do with the complaint forms only available by speaking to an officer at the station.
Is that why the mayor doesn’t want any oversight on the license camera program? Smells like a coverup.