Kirk Allen | co-founder of the Edgar County Watchdogs | Gary Fritz youtube upload
Kirk Allen | co-founder of the Edgar County Watchdogs | Gary Fritz youtube upload
Illinois State Police Settle FOIA Lawsuit for $20,622.93
May 5 2024
After the Attorney General’s office chose to not pursue any criminal charges in the illegal sale of seized firearms by the former Sheriff Don Koonce, Shelby Co. (ECWd) requested all the investigation files to include the taped interviews so that they could try to understand how a law enforcement officer selling seized guns to himself and his employees resulted in zero action being taken by the Attorney General.
As covered in these articles, it was apparent after listening to the actual interviews the stories were not adding up and there was zero follow-up to validate what the ISP was told by the parties involved.
The ISP lost their attempts in court to suppress the recorded interviews and now there is closure to our FOIA case through an agreed settlement for our attorney fees of $20,622.93.
"For the record, not one penny of that goes to our organization," Shelby Co. (ECWd) clarified.
"This is not the first time ISP has had to fork out funds due to non-compliance with our state transparency law known as the Freedom of Information Act," added Shelby Co. (ECWd).
"For those who face FOIA request issues with public bodies in this state, we urge the following steps," Shelby Co. (ECWd) concluded.
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