National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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Florida FAF: All Delray police officers will have body cameras within 5 years

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The Delray Beach Police Department will equip all of its officers with body cameras within five years after the city agreed Tuesday to put nearly $1 million toward the venture.

“This is going to be the norm in law enforcement,” Police Chief Jeff Goldman told the city commission Tuesday evening. “We are just a proactive organization and we try to stay ahead of curve.”

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Arkansas Prosecutor: Fort Smith School Board violated Freedom of Information Act

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The Fort Smith School Board has been found in violation of the Freedom of Information Act for a thread of emails among board members that discussed the new slate of officers prior to elections.

Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue issued a letter to the school board members Nov. 8 stating “after careful review of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and the relevant law, I believe that a violation of the Freedom of Information Act has occurred.”

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Notre Dame wins police records lawsuit filed by ESPN

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The University of Notre Dame's campus police department is not a "public agency" under Indiana law and does not have to provide information about investigations requested by sports media company ESPN, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled in a widely watched case.

The decision, released Wednesday afternoon, means Notre Dame and other private colleges in Indiana with police forces have no obligation to provide details of campus police reports and investigations.

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Public contracts shrouded in secrecy

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Many public contracts are shrouded in secrecy. Government contracting, which involves billions of dollars in public funds each year, has become one of the least transparent systems that state and local governments maintain, according to an investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Under the guise of protecting “trade secrets,” state and local governments are withholding critical information about public spending. That allows private entities to claim that some information is proprietary and its disclosure would harm their business.

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CFOIC honors Greg Moore for records battles: ‘He refused to take no for an answer’

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The CFOIC presented former Denver Post Editor Greg Moore, 62, with its Jean Otto Friend of Freedom Award, which recognizes a person for sustained and/or significant contributions to open government and First Amendment causes in Colorado. The award honors the legacy of Jean Otto, a long-time editor at the Rocky Mountain News who founded the CFOIC in 1987.

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NEFAC Accepting Nominations for 2017 Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award

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The New England First Amendment Coalition is seeking applications for its 2017 Antonia Orfield Citizenship Award. The deadline is January 15, 2017.

The award is given to an individual from one of the six New England states who has fought for information crucial to the public’s understanding of its community or what its government is doing — or not doing — on its behalf. The candidate should have shown tenacity or bravery in the face of difficulty while obtaining information that the public has a right to know.

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Boulder joins national effort to rethink open data, citizen engagement

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Boulder will take part in a national effort to help cities exchange best practices regarding the use of data to improve municipal government.

The effort is called What Works Cities, and it's initiative of ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's group Bloomberg Philanthropies.

What Works Cities launched in April 2015 as a way to help midsize cities — defined as having populations between 100,000 and 1 million — "enhance their use of data and evidence to improve services, inform local decision-making and engage residents."

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