FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

 

                                          

The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on August 21, 2009 and October 14, 2009, at which times the complainant and the respondents appeared, and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint.  The complainant, who is incarcerated, appeared via teleconference, pursuant to the January 2004 memorandum of understanding between the Commission and the Department of Correction, See Docket No. CV 03-0826293, Anthony Sinchak v. FOIC, et al., Superior Court, J.D. of Hartford at Hartford, Corrected Order dated January 27, 2004 (Sheldon, J.).

 

By letter dated February 2, 2009, the complainant requested various police records from certain dates in October 1997. Following the August 21, 2009 hearing, the respondents transmitted by letter dated September 2, 2009 additional records within the scope of the complainant’s request. The complainant responded with a letter to the respondents, which was undated but received at the Commission on October 5, 2009. The complainant’s letter further defined his request, indicating a potential willingness to stipulate to satisfaction of a portion of his complaint. Following the October 14, 2009 continued hearing, the respondents transmitted to the complainant, by letter dated October 14, 2009, additional records within the scope of the request. At both hearings, it was evident that the search for records relating to the relevant 911 and dispatch calls concerning a period of time more than eleven years before the request was burdensome, though legally required. At the October 14, 2009 continued hearing, the respondents produced for sworn testimony the officer who personally performed the search for relevant 911 tapes. The complainant and the hearing officer examined Officer Daniel Jones concerning the existence of 911 tapes that were prepared in 1997.

 

 

Docket #FIC 2009-168                                                                                   Page 2

 

Following this process, the complainant informed the Commission that he wished to withdraw his complaint in the above captioned matter.

 

The Commission takes administrative notice of the complainant’s withdrawal and recommends the following orders on the basis of the record:

 

1.      Based on the withdrawal of the complaint, the case is hereby dismissed.

 

2.  The hearings allowed the complainant: a) to receive records within the scope of his request that he had not previously received; and b) to determine by sworn testimony that certain requested records did not exist.

 

3.    The Commission commends both parties for reasonable action in conjunction with the hearings, concerning an initially broad request for records prepared in 1997. The result was that the complainant received all records, maintained by the respondents and the Waterbury Police Department, that were of actual interest to him, on a more timely basis than would have been possible with full adjudication of this matter.

 

 

Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of February 16, 2010.

 

 

___________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Docket #FIC 2009-168                                                                                               Page 3

 

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:

 

Tyson Hunter, #259730

Cheshire Correctional Institution

900 Highland Avenue

Cheshire, CT 06410

 

Kevin J. Daly, Jr., Office of the

Corporation Counsel,

City of Waterbury; and

Office of the Corporation Counsel,

City of Waterbury

c/o Kevin J. Daly, Jr., Esq.

Corporation Counsels Office

26 Kendrick Avenue, 8^th Floor

Waterbury, CT 06702

 

 

 

____________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

 

 

 

 

FIC/2009-168FD/paj/2/17/2010