This Department concluded that the DPS did not violate the APRA because its search and retrieval relating to the Complainant's APRA request was reasonably calculated to discover all responsive documents. The APRA request sought arrest records and "any related documents, due to any body attachments,
This supplemental finding addressed whether Complainant's rebuttal altered our finding in Katz v. Employees Retirement System, PR 16-32. The evidence demonstrated that Complainant's APRA request sought data that was not part of the public body's computer program's usual outputs. Calculating a new...
The School Committee violated the OMA when it voted on the issue of appointment of a Superintendent while in executive session pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-5(a)(1). The plain language of the OMA and our previous findings have held that when a public body chooses to convene into executive...
The Office of Attorney General today filed a complaint in Rhode Island Superior Court citing the Compass School for a willful and knowing, or reckless, violation of the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act (APRA) for failure to respond to an APRA request within the time as prescribed by law.
Complainant alleged that the DOC violated the APRA when it declined to produce documents responsive to its APRA request. The evidence indicated that the DOC properly withheld documents due to the privacy interests that outweighed the public interest in disclosure. We also found that the documents...
This Department has long held that "in order for this Department to have jurisdiction to inquire into an APRA matter, the complainant must first have requested a record from a public body, and second, the complainant must have been denied access to the requested record." Schmidt v. Ashaway...
Complainant alleged that the Town violated the APRA when it failed to respond to his APRA request. The evidence indicated that the Town timely responded to the APRA request by stating that it did not have the requested documents. We also found that Complainant's suggestion that the Police...
The Cranston Police Department did not violate the APRA when it withheld some documents responsive to an incident report and provided other documents related to an incident report in a redacted manner. No evidence was presented that disclosure would advance the APRA "public interest" as described...
The Complainant alleged that the City violated the APRA when it withheld requested documents without giving specific reasons for the denial and without indicating the procedures for appealing the denial. The evidence revealed that the City released the requested documents during the pendency of...
Complainant alleged that the City violated the APRA when it redacted information in its response to his May 24, 2016 APRA request. Consistent with our prior finding in Higgins v. Lonsdale Fire District, PR 15-20, we found that the requested W2 forms of public employees were not public records...
