The state Freedom of Information Commission ruled Wednesday that the East Haven police department violated the law by not releasing documents requested by a Fair Haven church.
Even after the unanimous decision, the department refused to hand over records on the use of tasers, according to Yale law students assisting the church.
East Haven attorney Patty Cofrancesco could not be reached to verify that claim. East Haven Mayor April Capone Almon declined to comment on the FOIC decision.
The Freedom of Information Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to adopt a proposed ruling written by Freedom of Information Hearing Officer Lisa Seigel earlier this month. Siegel wrote that the East Haven police department disobeyed the law by not releasing police records requested last fall by the St. Rose of Lima Church.
In October 2009, the largely Latino Fair Haven church requested documents on police discipline and training and the use of force, including tasers and pepper spray. St. Rose of Lima asked for the records as part of the church’s investigation into allegations of police harassment targeting Latinos in East Haven. Latino business owners and others claim that Latinos are subject to unwarranted traffic stops and verbal and physical abuse at the hands of East Haven police. The East Haven police department has denied the claim.
St. Rose of Lima’s efforts prompted a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the East Haven police department. The Department of Justice recently issued a scathing preliminary report about the East Haven police department that resulted in the temporary removal of Chief of Police Len Gallo last week. That report was followed by a report by Yale law students indicating that East Haven police issue traffic tickets to Latino drivers in vastly disproportionate numbers.
Dermot Lynch, a Yale law student working on the case, said the East Haven police department turned over a large number of requested documents immediately after the FOIC decision on Wednesday. But according to Lynch, the department refused to release records on the use of tasers, claiming that the FOIC ruling “appears to be in confusion.”
The FOIC decision is perfectly clear and unequivocal, Lynch said on Thursday. It orders the department to turn over “taser deployment data reports and case incident reports.”
“Finding ‘confusion’ in a crystal clear ruling is EHPD’s latest tactic to stonewall our requests for information,” said Father James Manship of Saint Rose of Lima, in a press release. “We have waited more than six months for these records on EHPD officers’ use of force. What is the EHPD trying to hide?”
If East Haven continues to refuse to release the taser records, St. Rose of Lima can file a non-compliance complaint. That could result in an expedited hearing and East Haven could be subject to civil penalties for refusing to obey a FOIC order. Lynch said the legal team is going through the documents East Haven gave them on Wednesday and should know next week if it will file a complaint.
Previous Independent stories about alleged racial profiling in East Haven:
• Report: East Haven Police Target Latinos
• FOIC Slaps East Haven
• Feds To Probe Racial Profiling Claims
• Immigrant Advocates, Supremacists Clash
• March Aims At Immigration Clampdown
• Routine Police Work? Or Retaliation?
• Case Dismissed, Priest Goes On Offense
• Priest’s Video Contradicts Police Report
• White Supremacists Pay A Visit
• City Priest Pleads Not Guilty
• Cross-Border Cops Arrest Father Jim
East Haven's got a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track.