foiathepolice.com will be an interactive webpage that is hosted as a project by the Lucy Parsons Labs. The goal of FOIA The Police (FTP) will be to:
- Teach the basics of how to form a public records requests
- Descibe various topics of requests that can be made using historical examples
- Highlight how FOIA can inform journalism, legislation, and drive reform.
First we should different topics of policing that the public might be interesting in FOIAing. We also add information about FOIA in general and how to fight back against exemptions.
The interactive webapp is being mocked up using the Twine library for interactive, non-linear story telling.
Our front-page story in the Chicago Reader was completed over a year and a half. The story about how we obtained the documents might help others facing similar data challenges. Another purpose of the historical record is to share our data with others, because sometimes agencies will refuse to release records that they had previously released. Therefore a one-stop shop for all our our records could be useful.
Each request might have a different history and used a different technique. We hope that FTP will highlight some of the unique tips including:
- Writing an SQL query and submitting that as a FOIA request
- Grabbing purchase orders for equipment then doing a FOIA for its use
- FOIAing a commander's emails for controversial equipments that they would oversee implementation of
- "Daisy Chain" documents from one request to request another set of records
The point of this will be to teach the public how to use FOIA and raise the knowledge base of the public.