FOIA Lawsuit: Will County Sheriff Sued By Edgar County Watchdogs

JOLIET, IL — The Edgar County Watchdogs has filed a civil lawsuit against the Will County Sheriff's Office accusing the staff of Sheriff Mike Kelley of willfully violating the Illinois Freedom of Information Act regarding the organization's request for 911 calls and incident reports from June and August at Wesley Rivals Township Park.

The park area is in southern Will County near Wilmington.

The seven-page lawsuit was filed by attorney Joshua Hart Burday of the Chicago law firm of Loevy & Loevy. The lawsuit informs the Will County judiciary that the Edgar County Watchdogs is a non-profit organization comprised of investigative reporters whose purpose is to foster accountability, truth and transparency in local government bodies across Illinois.

The group's website states it was founded in 2011.

The plaintiffs argue that on Aug. 7, the Edgar County Watchdogs submitted a FOIA request to the sheriff's office seeking copies of any 911 calls or any calls for help or assistance from an officer for wellness checks, disturbance or theft at Wesley Rivals Township Park for June 1 through June 30. Similar FOIA requests sought similar information for Aug. 6.

A week later, the Will County Sheriff's Office produced address activity reports "for the requested dates and a copy of (an) incident report with extensive information redacted. WCSO denied the request for all 911 calls made for help relating to anything at Wesley Rivals Township Park on August 6, 2019 in its entirety," the plaintiff's lawyer informed the judge.

The sheriff's office also denied the request for all 911 calls to Wesley Rivals Township for the month of June "for being overly burdensome," the lawsuit states.

On Aug. 13, Edgar County Watchdogs requested the sheriff's office "remove its blanket redaction of the narrative section of the incident report. (Edgar County) also narrowed the 911 calls request to seven specific incidents from June 2019 and two from August 2019," the lawsuit states. "On August 13, 2019, (Will County Sheriff's Office) refused to remove its blanket redaction of the narrative section of the incident report. On August 21, 2019, (the sheriff's office) denied the narrowed request for seven specific 911 calls in its entirety," court documents state.

The lawsuit informs the judge that "the requested records are not exempt. As (of) the date of this filing, WCSO has not produced all records responsive to the request."