FOIA requests from the Milwaukee police department for newspapers & private investigators is an expensive proposition.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sued the Milwaukee Police Department Thursday in a dispute over fees and delays under Wisconsin's open records law, according to court documents.

Reporters Gina Barton and Ben Poston claim they were subjected to excessive fees and unreasonable delay while conducting an independent examination of department crime statistics beginning in May 2010.

Poston was told his request for 100 selected incident reports, which he had received at no charge in a previous instance, would cost about $600 to cover the time it took to locate the records and review each report for non-disclosable information.

Barton, who made a similar open records request, was informed that the newspaper would be charged more than $3,500 and that police staff would not be able to work more than eight hours per week on her request.


Links:
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/docs/20100914_173439_milwaukee_paper_lawsuit.pdf
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=11554