NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The New York Coalition for Open Government is criticizing a policy change by Niagara Falls officials. In a letter to Mayor Robert Restaino, the coalition says that the City of Niagara Falls will no longer be releasing police incident reports to the public, and anyone that wants that information will need to file a Freedom Of Information Law (FOIL) request.
"I think it's a terrible policy change," said Paul Wolf from the coalition. "Basically, what it does is it restricts the flow of information from the police department to the news media, which in turn then restricts the flow to the public."
Wolf says he doesn't understand why the city would change the policy unless it was to control what gets out.
"Niagara Falls recently hired a public information officer, and that probably has something to do with it as you got to give that person something to do," Wolf said. "The mayor directed the police department to stop sending out this information."
But Mayor Restaino insists nothing nefarious is happening, in fact, the mayor insists there was never a policy to begin with.
"I don't mean to be difficult, Nate, but there is no policy," Mayor Restaino said. "It's my intent to continue to have public access to the information."
The mayor's office says this is a contingency plan until they can develop a workflow to streamline the flow of information. The big concern, the mayor says, is the personal information of any victim that may be listed on an unredacted police report.
"It's really just to make sure that the process protects the people's right to know," Restaino said. "As well as the civil rights, the New York State civil rights law allows, and the executive law requires that victims get fair treatment."
Anyone seeking a police report will need to file a FOIL request with the city. Unlike other municipalities that have a digital FOIL platform, Niagara Falls process is a little more 20th century. Users need to download the FOIL form, fill it out. To file the FOIL you need to mail it, or scan it and email it. By law, the city has five business days to acknowledge receipt of the FOIL.
The concern open government advocates have is that Niagara Falls will not release information in a timely manner.
"I have filed many foil requests," Wolf said. "It's not uncommon for them to take months to get the information that you request."
Wolf says the city hasn't provided enough evidence to justify the policy change.
"Previously, the police department would simply send out an email," Wolf said. "There was an understanding that certain information should not be disclosed, and, as far as I know, that's always worked fine."
With police accountability and transparency being at the top of mind for community advocates, Mayor Restaino insists that his police department will still be transparent.
"Since the middle of last year, when we announced the social justice commission and the idea of really making sure that our police department continues to operate in a fair and equitable way," Restaino said. "This has got this has nothing to do with attempting to limit that kind of transparency as well as that kind of accountability."
The last police report Niagara Falls issued, that 2 On Your Side could identify in its files, was on December 4, 2020.
2 On Your Side has filed a Freedom of Information Request for all police incident reports between January 1 and January 26. We will continue to do so and report how long it takes the City of Niagara Falls to process these requests.