FOIA act for accident records ?

[LanceDriver]

I am in a situation where some coworkers and I would like to request records on an accident our company had last year. Reason being that the company appears to be "less than up front" on questions from the pilot group regarding the accident. Hopefully I am gone to something better soon......but I still want the facts

I am thinking of requesting the records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Ideally, all FAA and NTSB records concerning the accident (investigator notes, reports, etc).

some links are here

http://www.ntsb.gov/info/foia.htm

http://www.faa.gov/foia/

I would also like to request records under various state FOIA-type statutes, like police department reports and Fire/EMS reports relating to accident, even to include autopsy.

If it sounds like my coworkers and I are almost conducting our own analysis, well, we are.....

rumor mill is our CP called NTSB investigator and told him "I think what happened is.....I am confident of that....for what its worth"

Can my employer "find out" who made these requests or is this protected under the law somehow? Are they (CEO, CP, DO) notified that "Joe Blow made an FOIA request for these records" or similar? Should I use a lawyer to get this information instead?

comments, advice wanted

- Just trying to find out THE TRUTH

 

[FN FAL]

....

I am in a situation where some coworkers and I would like to request records on an accident our company had last year. Reason being that the company appears to be "less than up front" on questions from the pilot group regarding the accident. Hopefully I am gone to something better soon......but I still want the facts

I am thinking of requesting the records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Ideally, all FAA and NTSB records concerning the accident (investigator notes, reports, etc).

some links are here

http://www.ntsb.gov/info/foia.htm

http://www.faa.gov/foia/

I would also like to request records under various state FOIA-type statutes, like police department reports and Fire/EMS reports relating to accident, even to include autopsy.

If it sounds like my coworkers and I are almost conducting our own analysis, well, we are.....

rumor mill is our CP called NTSB investigator and told him "I think what happened is.....I am confident of that....for what its worth"

Can my employer "find out" who made these requests or is this protected under the law somehow? Are they (CEO, CP, DO) notified that "Joe Blow made an FOIA request for these records" or similar? Should I use a lawyer to get this information instead?

comments, advice wanted

- Just trying to find out THE TRUTH

lllll

An even grimmer specter of municipal liability is depicted in the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the Monfils case. Monfils involved the City of Green Bay's release of the tape of an anonymous 911 call. That call involved an apparently inconsequential matter, the alleged theft of some electrical wire from a local paper plant. Police were not even dispatched in response to the call; the matter was handled by plant security. No arrest or criminal process ever resulted; there was only a disciplinary proceeding at the plant. Nevertheless, when all was said and done, one man was dead and the city and a deputy chief were the subjects of a two-million-dollar judgment.


As the Monfils court noted, this was a classic example of the situation where "the left hand did not know—or much care—what the right hand was doing." 165 F.3d 513. The thief identified by the anonymous caller sought to obtain a copy of the 911 tape from the Green Bay Police Department. He was told he could get a copy of the tape and repeatedly boasted at work that he would find out who had made the call. Mr. Monfils, the anonymous caller, made repeated calls to the Green Bay Police Department and was assured that the tape would not be released. Those representing that the tape would be released ultimately proved to be more efficient than those who said it would not be. Within hours after the tape was released, Mr. Monfils had been murdered, bludgeoned, and thrown unconscious into a pulp vat with a 50-pound weight around his neck.


The Monfils decision points out some of the perils of information sharing. At the very least, the facts in Monfils point out the need for systemic safeguards and review in the sharing of information. However, read broadly, the Monfils decision places an almost impossible burden on police with regard to the release of information.


Although Mr. Monfils relayed concerns over the release of the tape, the matter reported was quite minor from the perspective of the police. Certainly no one could have anticipated the result, even in light of the caller's suggestion that the person about whom he was calling might be violent. The objective indicators available to police would not have suggested that release of a tape, in which no identifying information was provided by the caller, would have resulted in danger.


However, as the result in Monfils graphically demonstrates, even information about the most trivial matters in law enforcement may provoke a reaction out of proportion to what a reasonable person might expect. In sharing information with community members, law enforcement professionals must be mindful of possible hidden agendas and the misuse that can be made of information. Because information is provided at the legal peril of the department, requests and responses should be coordinated through a central clearinghouse so that communication breakdowns like those evidenced in Monfils do not occur.