Evanston Unaware How Many Active MOUs Its Police Department Has

EVANSTON, IL — Representatives of the Evanston Law Department said it was too difficult to determine how many active memorandums of understanding the city's police force has with public and private institutions.

With a renewed focus on the intergovernmental agreements that determine the relationship between local police departments, schools and other organizations, Evanston Patch two weeks ago requested copies of the binding legal documents that govern the operations of the Evanston Police Department.

Deputy City Attorney Nicholas Cummings acknowledged Wednesday the city does not keep a list of operative memorandums of understanding, or MOUs, that cover its municipal police force.

"The issue is researching and compiling the MOUs in force and effect," Cummings told Patch in an email. "The issue isn't narrowing what would or wouldn't need to be disclosed, it's the labor necessary to respond to your request."

Cummings noted the majority of law department staff was replaced earlier this year and said it would be overly burdensome for city staff to produce a list of the arrangements involving its police department.

In February, Corporation Counsel Kelley Gandurski became Evanston's third city attorney in two years following the departure of Michelle Masoncup to become general counsel of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Grant Farrar's resignation to take a job with the local consulting firm GovHR.

A week ago, the city's first response to the request said the requested records needed to be examined by "personnel having the necessary competence to determine if they are exempt from disclosure or should be revealed only with appropriate redactions."

City staff have provided no indication that any of the MOUs are exempt from disclosure or eligible for redactions. A week later, a paralegal for the city denied the request, explaining in a form response that the "requested records produced [Fill in the Blank]," without filling in the blank.

In addition to arrangements with public bodies, such as school districts and other police departments, Evanston police are bound by MOUs with some private institutions as well, such as Northwestern University, city and university officials said during a livestreamed conversation presented by Mayor Steve Hagerty last month. It remains to be seen how many other private organizations have such arrangements with Evanston police.