3/12/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Kushal Shah re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Wilmington Police Department

PRINT VERSION: Attorney General Opinion No. 18-IB16 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE Attorney General Opinion No. 18-IB16 March 12, 2018 VIA U.S. MAIL Kushal K. Shah SBI # [Redacted] James T. Vaughn Correctional Center 1181 Paddock Road Smyrna, DE 19977 RE:     FOIA Petition Regarding the City of Wilmington Police Department Dear Mr. Shah: We write in response to your correspondence, received on February 22, 2018, alleging that the City of Wilmington Police Department (“WPD”) violated Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. §§ 10001-10007 (“FOIA”).  We treat your correspondence as a petition (“Petition”) for a determination pursuant to 29 Del. C. § 10005(e) regarding whether a violation of FOIA has occurred or is about to occur. We invited WPD to submit a written response to the Petition.  We received a response from the City’s legal counsel on March 8, 2018.  As set forth more fully below, it is our determination that WPD did not violate FOIA as alleged. In your Petition, you allege that you sent several requests to the WPD pursuant to Delaware’s FOIA and received no response.  Importantly, you state that you requested answers to three specific questions.  In response, the City’s legal counsel states that WPD’s FOIA Coordinator has reviewed his records and was unable to locate a FOIA request from you.  In an effort to assist you, the City’s legal counsel provided answers to each of your questions. Based upon the representations of the FOIA Coordinator and the City’s legal counsel, we cannot conclude that WPD violated FOIA.  Indeed, even if WPD had received your request, we note that FOIA does not require a public body to answer questions. [1] Very truly yours, /s/ Michelle E. Whalen _____________________________ Michelle E. Whalen Deputy Attorney General APPROVED BY: /s/ Allison E. Reardon _____________________________ Allison E. Reardon State Solicitor cc: Luke Mette, City Solicitor (via email) William B. Larson, Senior Assistant City Solicitor (via email) [1] See, e.g. Del. Op. Att’y Gen. 17-IB05, 2017 WL 1317847, at *3 (Mar. 10, 2017); Del. Op. Att’y Gen. 17-IB04, 2017 WL 1317846, at *2 (Mar. 8, 2017); Del. Op. Att’y Gen. 08-IB05, 2008 WL 1727613, at *1 (Feb. 22, 2008) ; Del. Op. Att’y Gen. 00-IB08, 2000 WL 1092967, at *2 (May 24, 2000) ; Del. Op. Att’y Gen. 97-IB06, 1997 WL 606408, at *5 (Mar. 17, 1997) .