FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION

OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

 

 

In the Matter of a Complaint by                                                FINAL DECISION

 

Cecilia Okeke,

 

            Complainant

 

            against                                                                          Docket #FIC 1996-167

 

Chief of Police, New Haven Police

Department,

 

            Respondent                                                                  December 11, 1996

 

 

            The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on September 30, 1996, at which time the complainant and the respondent appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint.

 

            After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:

 

            1.  The respondent is a public agency within the meaning of §1-18a(a), G.S.

 

            2.  By letter dated March 20, 1996, the complainant requested that the respondent provide her with access to or a copy of records regarding the following:

 

a)   all activities pertaining to her being used for a human guinea pig;

b)   the wire tapping of her telephone;

                        c)   the tracking, intercepting and hoarding of her letters,

                        d)   her being monitored and hooked up for a human guinea pig study;

                        e)   efforts to keep her from getting and keeping a job since 1989;

                        f)    efforts to hurt her in and out of her apartment and at public and

                              school libraries and computer rooms;

                        g)   things put in her groceries, in cooked food inside her apartment

                              and in things left on grocery store shelves for her to buy;

                        h)   various mob activities carried out in her apartment;

                        i)    things that have been put in her water;

j)       the freezing of her apartment in the winter months;

k)     the things done to make her continuously bleed;

l)       involvement in the killing of her brother in Nigeria in March 1991;

m)   instigating hardships and harming family members; and

n)     the interception of phone calls to her family members.

            3.  Having failed to receive a response to her March 20, 1996 request, by letter dated March 29, 1996, and filed with the Commission on April 3, 1996, the complainant appealed to the Commission alleging that the respondent violated the Freedom of Information (“FOI”) Act by denying her access to the requested records.

 

            4.  It is found that pursuant to a request from the complainant in 1995, the respondent had provided the complainant with all records of cases involving her.

 

            5.  It is further found that, having received the complainant’s March 20, 1996 request, the respondent inquired of the police department’s intelligence and detective divisions whether there were any investigations of the complainant and whether there was any surveillance being conducted on her, and discovered that there were none.

 

6.  It is also found that the respondent searched the department’s files for any records concerning telephone wire taps on the complainant or the tracking of her letters, as well as for any other records responsive to the complainant’s inquiries identified in paragraph 3a) - n), above, and found none.

 

            7.  The respondent claims that, because no records concerning the complainant other than those identified in paragraph 4, above, exist, the complaint in this matter should be dismissed.

 

            8.  It is found that no records exist that are responsive to the complainant’s request.

 

            9.  Because the requested records do not exist, it is concluded that the respondent is not in violation of §§1-19(a) or 1-15(a), G.S., under the facts of this case.

 

            10.  Section 1-21i(a), G.S., provides in pertinent part:

 

Any denial of the right to inspect or copy records provided for under section 1-19 shall be made to the person requesting such right by the public agency official who has custody or control of the public record, in writing, within four business days of such request.

 

            11.  It is found, however, that although no records exist responsive to the complainant’s request, that the respondent had an obligation under §1-21i(a), G.S., to respond in writing to the complainant’s request within four business days.

 

12.  It is concluded that the respondent is in violation of §1-21i(a), G.S., by failing to respond to the complainant’s request identified in paragraph 3, above.

 

            The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint.

 

            1.  The respondent shall henceforth strictly comply with the provisions of §1-21i(a), G.S.

 

 

Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its special meeting of December 11, 1996 .

 

 

 

                                                                                    __________________________

                                                                                    Elizabeth A. Leifert

Acting Clerk of the Commission


 

 

 

PURSUANT TO SECTION 4-180(c), G.S., THE FOLLOWING ARE THE NAMES OF EACH PARTY AND THE MOST RECENT MAILING ADDRESS, PROVIDED TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION, OF THE PARTIES OR THEIR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE.

 

THE PARTIES TO THIS CONTESTED CASE ARE:

 

Cecilia Okeke

PO  Box 74

New Haven, CT 06501

 

 

Chief of Police, New Haven PoliceDepartment

c/o  Patricia Cofrancesco, Esq.

165 Church Street

New Haven, CT 06510

 

 

 

 

                                                                                    __________________________

                                                                                    Elizabeth A. Leifert

                                                                                    Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIC 1996-167/FD/eal/121696