https://illinoisfoia.org/public-bodies/chicago-police-department/ 2026-07-21T00:00:00Z https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-91704/ 2026-07-21T00:00:00Z

Section 7.5(cc) of FOIA exempts officer-worn body camera recordings except to the extent the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act allows disclosure. Under that Act, recordings generally may be released only if they are flagged for statutory reasons such as use of force or an arrest, or to a person the Act authorizes, and here the requester was not depicted in or the subject of the recordings and the footage was not flagged. The PAC concluded the police department properly withheld the fo

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-84503/ 2025-06-06T00:00:00Z

A citizen requested a police report but was denied because they did not provide a photo ID to prove they were the victim involved in the incident. The Attorney General's office agreed with the police department, stating that the department acted reasonably in withholding the records until the requester's identity could be confirmed. To get the records, the requester must provide the requested identification.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-82383/ 2025-03-25T00:00:00Z

Under FOIA, records that contain administrative and technical information associated with automated data processing operations are per se exempt from disclosure under section 7(1)(o). The decisive fact was that the withheld user guide was for the AutoVu Patroller software application, which is an automated data processing system. Because the guide fell squarely within this categorical exemption, the PAC concluded the denial was proper without needing to assess any additional balancing or harm.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-84605/ 2025-01-08T00:00:00Z

A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for juvenile criminal records of a deceased person. The police denied the request, stating that juvenile records are confidential by law. The Attorney General's office agreed, confirming that the law protecting juvenile records remains in effect even after the minor is deceased.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-83945/ 2024-12-16T00:00:00Z

This determination addresses whether the Chicago Police Department properly denied a FOIA request for School Absentee Reports under 5 ILCS 140/7.5(bb), which exempts records whose disclosure is prohibited by the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. The Public Access Bureau held that CPD did not improperly deny the request, concluding that School Absentee Reports relate to minors taken into custody or limited custody under the Juvenile Court Act, and that such records are confidential except by court orde

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-82977/ 2024-12-02T00:00:00Z

A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for specific daily activity forms, but the Department claimed no such records existed. The Attorney General's office reviewed the Department's search process and determined that they had looked thoroughly enough to satisfy the law. Consequently, the case is closed with no further action required.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-80487/ 2024-03-14T00:00:00Z

A citizen asked the Chicago Police Department questions about background searches performed on them, but the department and another agency referred the requester back and forth. The Attorney General's office closed the case, explaining that FOIA is for requesting copies of existing documents, not for asking government agencies questions or demanding they create new records.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-74214/ 2023-03-08T00:00:00Z

A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for emails about traffic stops, but the Department refused, claiming it would be too much work to find them. The Attorney General's office reviewed the case and decided the Department improperly denied the request as unduly burdensome, partly because it did not respond on time. The source does not state that the Department must now search for and provide the requested emails.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2020-pac-65160/ 2021-01-26T00:00:00Z

The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought copies of federal subpoenas and search warrants served on a city police department in a given month, which the department denied as unduly burdensome without ever engaging with the requester's repeated attempts to confer about narrowing the request. The Public Access Counselor held that the department violated FOIA's mandatory duty to offer and follow through on conferring before denying a request as unduly burdensome, and separately failed to prove ei

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-65010/ 2020-10-06T00:00:00Z

Under FOIA section 7.5(cc), officer-worn body camera recordings are exempt from disclosure unless the requester falls within a specific category of persons authorized by the Body Camera Act to obtain copies. The Body Camera Act (section 10-20(b)(3)) limits access to non-flagged recordings to the officer involved, the officer's legal representative, or persons with a court order. The requester did not claim to be the officer or the officer's representative, and no facts suggested the recordings w

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-60599/ 2020-01-10T00:00:00Z

A journalist requested police body camera footage from a search warrant execution at a private home. The Chicago Police Department denied the request, citing law enforcement exemptions. The Attorney General's office agreed that the police department did not violate the law, noting that the department is not required to release the footage even if the subjects of the video provide consent.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-57517/ 2019-08-01T00:00:00Z

An attorney sought body-camera recordings of a traffic accident on behalf of a client, which the police department withheld under the Body Camera Act. The PAC determined the client did not appear on the recordings and was therefore not the "subject of the encounter" entitled to obtain them, and the recordings were not otherwise flagged for release under the Act's disclosure triggers. The department's withholding did not violate FOIA.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2018-pac-55193/ 2019-01-09T00:00:00Z

The requester, a law firm representing the subject of a police encounter, sought body-worn camera video related to a motor vehicle collision after the police department withheld it on the theory that footage must first be formally "flagged" before it could be disclosed to the subject or the subject's attorney. The Public Access Counselor held that the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act separately requires disclosure of recordings to the subject of the encounter or the subject's attorne

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2018-pac-55035/ 2018-12-31T00:00:00Z

The requester sought seven categories of records concerning a specific vehicle accident from a police department, which acknowledged receipt but never issued a substantive response, citing body-worn camera video still under internal review months later. The Public Access Counselor held that the department violated FOIA's requirement to comply with, extend, or deny a request within five business days, which also barred it from later treating the request as unduly burdensome. The department was di

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-51718/ 2018-05-07T00:00:00Z

A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for case reports and a copy of the AIRA user manual. The Attorney General's office found that the police department improperly responded to the request for the case reports, concluding that the requester sought existing data from a database, not a new record. The determination does not address whether the police department properly withheld the AIRA manual; it only describes the department's claim of an exemption and the requester's dispute, withou

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-51910/ 2018-04-17T00:00:00Z

The requester sought police reports concerning an old break-in, which the department produced with extensive redactions under FOIA's private-information, personal-privacy, and law-enforcement-source exemptions. The PAC determined that redactions of individuals' private identifying information, a partial license plate, victim and uninvolved-party identities, and information that would reveal confidential sources were proper, but that redactions of business contact information, ages, uninvolved bu

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-45372/ 2017-02-09T00:00:00Z

A requester asked the Chicago Police Department for numerous complaint records and crime scene photos. The Department initially denied the request as too large but later offered to provide the photos for a $334 copying fee, which the requester challenged. The Attorney General's office found that the Department followed the law and was permitted to charge the actual cost of reproducing the requested photographs.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2016-pac-41657/ 2016-08-09T00:00:00Z

The requester, a news organization, sought emails from named police officers' work and personal accounts relating to a fatal police shooting, and the police department produced dozens of official-account emails but never sought records from officers' personal accounts and searched using only a single term. The Public Access Counselor held that personal-account emails documenting public business are public records the department cannot decline to search for, and that limiting the search to one pr

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2016-pac-41880/ 2016-06-27T00:00:00Z

The requester, a journalist, sought current and historical police staffing levels by district and all personnel transfer orders since an earlier request, and the police department sent an extension notice after the five-business-day deadline had already passed, then never substantively responded despite the requester's repeated follow-ups. The Public Access Counselor held that an extension notice sent after the statutory deadline does not validly extend the response period, so the department's p

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2010-pac-10242/ 2011-02-18T00:00:00Z

The requester, a member of the public, sought the arrest records of four named individuals and a gunshot residue test report, which a police department denied in full as protected criminal history information and an invasion of privacy. The Public Access Counselor held that section 2.15(a) of FOIA affirmatively requires disclosure of specified arrest and criminal history information, that neither cited state law prohibited disclosure, and that the strong public interest in arrest information out

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2010-pac-11568/ 2010-10-25T00:00:00Z

The requester, a newspaper reporter, sought the current total number of sworn police officers assigned to each police district, which a police department withheld in full as a vulnerability assessment or security measure. The Public Access Counselor held that the exemption applies only to measures designed to prevent attacks that could destroy or contaminate a community's population or infrastructure, and the department failed to show that disclosing district staffing totals would jeopardize any