[Peace-discuss] FW: [police oversight] IL Appeal Court: Police internal affairs reports are public records

Wed Jul 22 16:01:05 CDT 2009

Brian,

I am going to assume that you will circulate this to the relevant people and
organizations.  I do not have emails for many of the interested parties and
do not belong to many of the relevant organizations; but I think that this
is significant enough that it should be made available to them.

Laurie

From: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:policeoversight at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of kwa357
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 5:57 AM
To: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [police oversight] IL Appeal Court: Police internal affairs reports
are public records

Police internal affairs reports are public records, court rules
By BRUCE RUSHTON
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Jul 21, 2009 @ 11:30 PM

Police internal affairs files are public records, even if investigators
conclude that accused officers did nothing wrong, a state appeals court has
ruled.

The decision came Monday in a lawsuit filed by Springfield dentist Mark
Gekas, who says he was roughed up by Sangamon County sheriff's deputy John
Gillette during a 2006 traffic stop.

Gekas sued Sheriff Neil Williamson after the department refused to give him
copies of internal affairs reports. The department said the records are part
of Gillette's personnel file and that making them public would violate the
deputy's right to privacy.

Not so, the 4th District Appellate Court ruled.

"What (Gillette) does in his capacity as a deputy sheriff is not his private
business," the court ruled. "Whether he used excessive force or otherwise
committed misconduct during an investigation or arrest is not his private
business. . Not every scrap of paper that enters a personnel file
necessarily is personal information."

Furthermore, the court said, the results of internal investigations don't
matter: If someone complains about an officer's conduct in the course of his
official duties, the investigative reports are public records.

"That a complaint against a deputy sheriff is `unfounded' is nothing more
than a conclusion of the sheriff's office: in response to the complaint, the
public body investigated itself,'" wrote Judge Thomas Appleton for a
unanimous three-judge appellate panel. "If the Act allowed a public body to
deny access to complaints that it deemed to be unfounded, defeating the Act
would be as easy as declaring a complaint to be unfounded."

The names of people who filed complaints against Gillette can be redacted,
the court ruled.

Williamson said Tuesday he hadn't heard about the decision until a reporter
contacted him. He said he doesn't know whether he will appeal to the state
Supreme Court.

"This comes as a surprise," Williamson said. "We'll have to take some time
to decipher it and digest and talk to the attorneys."

John Myers, Gekas' lawyer, praised the ruling.

"It was a complete victory for Dr. Gekas," Myers said.

Gekas had asked for records on all internal investigations concerning
Gillette. Macoupin County Judge Kenneth Deihl ruled he could see four of 27
files, but not the one on his own encounter with the deputy. Deihl said the
withheld files represented complaints deemed unfounded by the sheriff's
office or complaints that weren't similar to the one lodged by Gekas.

Gekas was suffering a kidney-stone attack and driving himself to Memorial
Medical Center when he was pulled over by a Jerome police officer for an
alleged improper lane change and failure to wear a seat belt. Ignoring the
officer's warning that he would be arrested if he left the scene, Gekas
drove off and was stopped by Gillette near MacArthur Boulevard and Laurel
Street. Gekas said Gillette ordered him out of his vehicle at gunpoint, then
shoved him back into his pickup truck with the help of other officers, where
he was handcuffed to the steering wheel.

Don Craven, acting director of the Illinois Press Association and a lawyer
who concentrates on public-records law, said the court decision is an
important one.

"Records of police misconduct have been very difficult for the public to
access, and this decision makes clear that those records, to the extent that
they deal with misconduct in an officer's role as an officer, should be made
public," Craven said.

Gekas could not be reached for comment. He has not sued the sheriff's
department for excessive force, nor has he asked for monetary damages. Asked
why his client sued, Myers said the motive is simple.

"As corny as it sounds, good government," Myers said.

Bruce Rushton can be reached at 788-1542.

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