Tom Hennick, public information officer at the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, spoke to reporters in Middletown on March 21 about what is and isn't available to the public under the state's open records laws.

"For democracy to work, people need to know what's going on," Hennick said.

Hennick also offered the following tips:
- Under FOI law, an agency doesn't have to answer questions. But it does have to provide access to public documents and public meetings
- If a board says it's going into executive session, ask why and they should be able to tell you one of five reasons.
- Board members have to start meeting in public, then vote to go into executive session
- "It's just a workshop" or "it's just a task force" are not excuses for not following FOI meeting law. It is still a public meeting.
- Some towns are camera shy, but if it's a public meeting you can take photos or record what is being said
- Open meeting law guarantees access to meetings, does not give you the right to speak at meetings
- Executive level search committee can meet in private under FOI law. Binding arbitration hearings are public
- Bids and RFPs can be kept from public until contract is signed
-  If someone tells you what happened in executive session or you overhear part of it, you can report it without breaking any laws
- One frustration for reporters is FOI law does not necessarily help you meet deadline. Complaints take time, but they are still important

Video from the event is available in two parts:

“For democracy to work, people need to know what’s going on,” Freedom of Information Commission Public Education Officer Thomas Hennick said Tuesday at a meeting in Torrington City Hall.
Hennick held a workshop with city department heads, commission members and area citizens to educate them about meeting laws and open records.

Municipalities, boards and commissions should think of everything they do in terms of being open and accessible to the public, he said.

It is a bad day for journalism in Connecticut – with reporters’ future ability to get police reports in a timely fashion in jeopardy.

The state’s Appellate Court on Monday agreed with the state police’s contention that if they put out a press release, regardless of how little information it contains, they have done enough to comply with state Freedom of Information law.

The Appellate Court, which heard arguments in the case in November, issued an advanced release opinion on Monday. Read it HERE.

The Freedom of Information Commission is expected to discuss whether it will appeal to the state Supreme Court at its next meeting Aug. 8.

The New Haven Register had lodged a complaint with the commission after state police refused to release a police report on a near fatal attack on Route 8 in Derby in 2008, when Toai Nguyen severely beat his father. The commission sided with the New Haven Register.

The Department of Public Safety appealed to the Superior Court, and Judge Henry Cohn, a former assistant attorney general, sided with the state police, who were represented by Stephen Sarnoski, a current assistant attorney general. Cohn’s ruling prompted the appeal to the Appellate Court.

The New Haven Register did eventually receive the police report, but it took several months.

Here is an excerpt from a June 2010 New Haven Register editorial:  

“The bare bones press release from the state police identified Toai Nguyen, the charges against him, the date, time and place of his arrest, as well as a brief description of the incident. But, it left out crucial details like the name of the victim, the hospital where he was taken, his injuries or the weapon used in the assault….. Through its own persistence, the Register learned eventually that Nguyen was a mentally unstable, (undocumented) immigrant who had fractured his father’s skull with a metal bar used to disable the steering wheel of an automobile…… Clearly, press releases so lacking in detail as the one for Nguyen’s arrest are not sufficient.”

Read full editorials on the topic HERE and HERE.  In 2010, Nguyen was arrested for allegedly stabbing his sister. Nguyen’s court case in the stabbing incident is still pending in Superior Court in Milford, with his next court date on July 31.

UPDATE - Man accused of stabbing Shelton sister found not guilty by mental disease. Read the Register's coverage in the Aug. 1 edition here.

UPDATE - The Freedom of Information Commission decided at its meeting Aug. 8 to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The New Haven Register and The Register Citizen filed a complaint with the State Freedom of Information Commission Friday afternoon over the city of Waterbury’s refusal to release documents related to former Gov. John Rowland‘s work as a taxpayer-funded economic development coordinator.
CLICK HERE TO READ FULL STORY

By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo

Investigations Editor
DERBY — The state Freedom of Information Commission ruled this month that Derby officials violated the law last year when they refused to release records of disciplinary action against a city public works employee.

The employee, Shaun Wheeler, received a one-day unpaid suspension in August 2011 for an unauthorized private paint striping job at a business owned by city police officer and chairman of the Derby Parking Authority, John Dorosh.

Read more and read the documents here.

The Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission is considering a complaint by the New Haven Register against the city of Derby.
A hearing on the case took place in Hartford on Feb. 7, and a hearing officer will issue a proposed final decision in the coming weeks. The full commission will then review it.
The Register requested documents in August 2011 regarding disciplinary action taken against city public works employee Shaun Wheeler, for allegedly providing free paint striping at a business, Raro Motor Car LLC, in which the principal of the company is a Derby police officer and chairman of the Derby Parking Authority, John Dorosh.
Wheeler was given a one day unpaid suspension, and agreed to compensate the city $37 for the use of the paint.
In an email to the Register dated October 6, 2011, Derby Corporation Counsel Joseph Coppola refused to release the record, citing Wheeler’s objection. Coppola further indicated, “Based on the circumstances the information you seek is ‘highly offensive to a reasonable person.’”
The Register filed a formal complaint against Derby on Oct. 6, 2011, asserting that the public has a right to know information about a city employee’s discipline, and this is a legitimate matter of public concern.
Read stories from the New Haven Register that ran on Aug. 31, 2011 and Sept. 2, 2011, here and here.

The key to any good FOI result is paying attention and staying patient... It also helps to have a leak.

When former Torrington police officer Hector Medina was arrested on Feb. 8, 2012 for misusing police databases, it opened a can of worms that none of us saw coming. Medina's arrest sparked the community to ask a question: Why was he making these alleged "phantom stops"?

Twenty-nine different victims said Medina had never pulled them over, but he reported these stops as part of his "one-stop quota," as the community began to call it. Come to find out, the police department -- much like any other department --
Read more »