Access with Attitude: An Advocate's Guide to Freedom of Information in Ohio

1: Unlawful Obstacles

7 1 Unlawful Obstacles Conditions That Officials Can’t Impose 1.1 You Don’t Have to Divulge Information about Yourself Common Unlawful Conditions Public offices and their administrators sometimes take it upon themselves to impose unlawful conditions on your right to inspect or get copies of public records. For example, an agency may refuse to provide public records unless you • give your home address; • give your Social Security number; • show your driver’s license; • give your birth date; • say why you want the record or what you intend to do with it; or • agree not to circulate the record without the agency’s consent. They may ask you to fill out an application like the following. 8฀฀•฀฀Access with Attitude Just Say “No” You don’t have to agree to any of those conditions. The Public Records Act specifies, for example, that public offices can’t “limit or condition the availability of public records by requiring disclosure Figure 1.1 ฀ Unlawful฀Obstacles฀฀•฀฀9 of the requestor’s identity or the intended use of the requested public record.”1 An Amusing Mindset The bottom of the Sagamore Hills Police District information request form (figure 1.1) is especially telling about the way some administrators think. First, the form says that you violate the law if you put inaccurate information on the application, such as what you intend to do with the records that you receive. Then it says that you can’t rely on any information that the police department provides to you because that information might be false: I understand and agree that my use of the information requested for any purpose other than stated herein, or the falsification of any information on this sheet may be a violation of law, and I specifically agree not to disseminate this information further without prior written approval of the Sagamore Hills Police Department. the฀sagamore฀hills฀police฀department฀does฀not฀guaranty ฀the฀accuracy฀of฀the฀information฀contained฀ herein,฀anyone฀relying฀on฀the฀information฀supplied฀ does฀so฀at฀their฀own฀risk. So if you put inaccurate information on the application, the police might prosecute you. But if the police provide you with inaccurate information, that’s okay. Unlawful Conditions That Benefit You: Requesting Records in Writing and Revealing Your Identity Administrators usually insist that you put your request in writing, even though the act specifies that the office can’t withhold public records from you if you decline to do so. But putting your request in writing, dating it, and keeping a copy has some significant advantages for you: • Everybody knows exactly what you asked to see. • The act requires public offices to respond to written requests with written citation to legal authority to justify a denial.2 • If you sue, you can use the writing to prove that you satisfied one of the conditions required before you have a right to sue: 10฀฀•฀฀Access with Attitude that you made a prior demand that the agency ignored or denied. • If you sue, you can’t recover statutory damages unless your presuit request was in writing.3 Letting a public office know who you are usually benefits you. It makes communication between you and the office easier, and it helps the office make sure that it is responding to your request. When Public Offices Ask Rather Than Require The Public Records Act makes a fine distinction between an administrator ’s asking you to divulge information about yourself and an administrator’s refusing to let you see the records unless you divulge that information. The act allows the administrator to ask for your identity and your expected use of the records, but only if he or she also explains that you can see the records even if you decline to identify yourself or to say why you want the records.4 The administrator is not supposed to ask you for that information unless it would help him or her to “identify, locate, or deliver” the records.5 If you want the agency to mail copies of public records, for example, you’ll need to give the agency your name and mailing address . If several people are waiting for copies of public records, as is often true at the secretary of state’s office, giving your name allows a clerk to sort out who is supposed to get which records. Responding to Unlawful Conditions How should you respond when an administrator insists upon...