The Michigan Court of Appeals says the city of Taylor must comply with a Freedom of Information Act request seeking police misconduct reports dating back to 2021.
The ACLU of Michigan requested records related to allegations of racial profiling, racial discrimination, harassment, or excessive force in the southeast Michigan city, then sued when city officials declined to release the materials.
In an unsigned opinion released Tuesday, a three-judge panel rejected arguments the records were exempt from disclosure because the request was not specific enough and too broad to comply with.
“The request was for documents that relate, even minimally, to allegations or findings that police officers engaged in racial profiling, racial discrimination, harassment, or excessive force,” the opinion said. “How this request was deemed incomprehensible is mystifying.”
ACLU attorney Mark Fancher said the city’s argument skirts the intent of the law that is supposed to assist people seeking information about government.
The ACLU is “not able to provide detailed descriptions of the records because they don’t have them,” he told Michigan Public Radio. “They haven’t seen them.”
The court also rejected the argument that the records are exempt while the ACLU is involved in a separate police misconduct lawsuit against the city in federal court and ordered the city to pay the costs of litigating the issues in the FOIA suit. The appeals court ruling reverses a Wayne County Circuit Court decision to dismiss the FOIA case.
The city did not reply to a request for comment or share its plans on whether to appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court.
