The New York Times is suing the New York Police Department for repeatedly failing to obey a state law requiring it to provide information to the press and public. The lawsuit, filed yesterday, recounts four instances this year in which access to information by the paper was denied or delayed. “Information that was once released is now withheld. Disclosures that could be made quickly are put on hold for months,” said David McCraw, the Times’ vice-president and assistant general counsel. The lawsuit asks that the police department be required to turn over information that is being illegally withheld and be barred from ignoring the Freedom of Information Law. According to Paul Browne, the NYPD’s chief spokesman, “none of the FOIL requests about which The Times complains, is, in our view, ripe for litigation.”
Times Sues City Police, Saying Information Has Been Illegally Withheld [NYT]
