Court: Upper Peninsula police department must fully disclose use-of-force policy
A Court of Appeals panel has ordered an Upper Peninsula police department to issue an unredacted copy of its use-of-force policy, reversing a lower court decision that sided with the department’s argument that issuing the full policy would compromise officer safety.
Amy Hjerstedt, a member of the League of Women Voters of Eastern Upper Peninsula, requested a copy of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department’s use of force policy in 2020. The request, made through the Freedom of Information Act, coincided with national unrest over police brutality and racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May of that year.
Michigan's FOIA laws allow individuals to request records and other information from government organizations to allow the public to gain a better understanding of how its government is operating.
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In August 2020, Sault Ste. Marie city commissioners voted to issue a redacted copy of the department’s use-of-force policy to Hjerstedt, The Sault News reported. At the time, city and police officials argued that fully disclosing the policy would pose a safety risk to officers if potential.
Hjerstedt told The Sault News she was unable to “decipher anything” from the redacted copy of the department’s policy. She sued the city in Chippewa County’s 50th Circuit Court, but a judge sided with the city.
On Tuesday, a three-judge appeals panel remanded the decision, essentially sending the case back down to the circuit court with an order to reverse its previous ruling. The panel also ordered the city to cover Hjerstedt’s legal fees from the case and for the court to determine if she is entitled to any punitive damages. Michigan law states the punitive damages paid to an individual incorrectly denied information through a FOIA request should total $1,000.
“The trial court clearly erred by finding that the redacted material ‘would or could in fact impact the officer’s [sic] ability to protect the public and/or themselves,’” presiding Judge Sima Patel wrote in a 10-page opinion. Judges Douglas Shapiro and Stephen Borrello were the others on the panel.
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The panel found Michigan’s FOIA laws, except where explicitly written, place the burden on government organizations to disclose information to the public when requested. Additionally, after a review of the use-of-force policy, the panel found the policy did not contain specific police codes or other indications that would benefit any potential assailants during an interaction with Sault Ste. Marie police officers. Since the requested information was a policy, not about a specific operation, Hjerstedt should have been provided with an unredacted copy of the full policy.
“We hold that there is a conceptual difference between policy and operations, and that the use-of-force policy in this case deals with policy, only, and does not contain any ‘operational instructions.’ The policy, thus, was not exempt from disclosure,” Patel wrote.
Sault Ste. Marie City Manager Brian Chapman said the city is evaluating whether to appeal the panel's ruling to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Contact Arpan Lobo: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Court orders Sault Ste. Marie police to disclose use of force policy
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