Spectrum News NY1 v. New York Police Department
The Reporters Committee and a coalition of media organizations filed an amicus brief in Spectrum News NY1 v. New York Police Department, a Freedom of Information Law case before the New York Appellate Division, First Department. The case concerns NY1’s FOIL request for body-worn camera footage. The trial court issued an order requiring a hearing to determine whether the NYPD can perform the redactions without unreasonable difficulty, as it claims. The amicus brief complements NY1’s briefing and argues that the purpose of both FOIL and the body-worn camera program is to increase transparency about law enforcement conduct and, to meet those ends, footage must be timely released and not cost-prohibitive to request. The brief also argues that difficulty is not a grounds to withhold records under FOIL and, even if it were, NYPD’s claims of difficulty are unreasonable in light of modern redaction technology.