Peoria Police Department did not violate FOIA for nonexistent records

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Dear

This determination letter is issued pursuant to section 9.5(c) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/9.5(c) (West 2022), as amended by Public Act 103-069, effective January 1, 2024). For the reasons set forth below, the Public Access Bureau concludes that no further action is warranted in this matter.

On July 1, 2024, you submitted a FOIA request to the Peoria Police Department Department) via the City of Peoria's FOIA portal seeking " the records that reflect the number of officer [ sic] that were using body camera on 7/1/2022 please include graph and all data that exist on this matter please include all patrol officers[.]" 1 On July 8, 2024, the Department responded that it "does not possess any documents or records responsive to your request." 2 That same day, you submitted the above- referenced Request for Review. In correspondence to the Department, you argued: " This does not satisfy my request every police department' s [ sic] has some type of stats that reflect the department use of body camera your own general directive order state this[.]" 3 The requirements of FOIA apply to requests for "public records," which are records " having been prepared by or for, or having been or being used by, received by, in the Rather than reasonably describing records, your request sought general data about the number of officers using body cameras on a specific date two years ago. The Department stated that it does not possess records reflecting that number, and your Request for Review does not indicate why it would; the available information does not suggest that the Department would possess a daily count of officers with body cameras as of July 1, 2022. FOIA does not require the Department to calculate that number, nor generate a graph and/or data with respect to that number. Although the Department may possess some statistics concerning its use of body cameras, there is no indication that it possesses the specific statistics you requested, and the Department was not required to provide statistics you did not request. Accordingly, this office has determined that no further action is warranted in this matter.

This file is closed. If you have any questions, please contact me at the Chicago address on the first page of this letter.

Very truly yours, KATIE GOLDSMITH Assistant Attorney General Public Access Bureau 82064 f no fi war pd cc: Via electronic mail Ms. Rebecca Boland Records Administrator Peoria Police Department 600 SW Adams Street Peoria, Illinois 61602 rboland@peoriacounty. org