YHK - yet another hacker news clone

Oregon Police Are Charging a Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records About One Cop

119 points tdeck 1 hour ago 20 comments

cactacea 1 hour ago | parent

> the Eugene Police Department claimed searching for records and processing the request would take at least 44,816 hours of staff time and cost approximately $2,484,599.04.

44k hours is ~21 years. Beyond absurd

delichon 6 minutes ago | parent

The marble tablets are tough to move.

infinite_spin 1 hour ago | parent

https://archive.is/KAwLx

sellmesoap 56 minutes ago | parent

I've been seeing more FOIA request costs going up, justice for those wealthy enough to pay for it, as per usual!

rahimnathwani 47 minutes ago | parent

Some agencies have a different tactic: go really slowly.

I sent a public records request to my local school district on March 9th 2026.

They responded on 19th March 2026 saying they'd respond on in late April.

Since then, every month they've sent an email with some small portion of the records, with a PDF letter saying they'll send a follow up a month later.

I've received 8 of those responses so far, and there's no indication when, if ever, I will have received all the records responsive to my request.

forsalebypwner 38 minutes ago | parent

Yup, the Milwaukee PD took over 6 months for a fairly basic records request, and that was even with me following up monthly to ask them for an update. In the end, the only cost to me was <$5 for the 2GB flash drive they put the files on.

Unfortunately Wisconsin State Law only gives vague guidelines on this ("must respond reasonably quickly" or something along those lines)

toomuchtodo 38 minutes ago | parent

Let muckrock.com know, they track this data when requests are made on their platform.

garciasn 35 minutes ago | parent

And this is when you get on each and every single school board meeting agenda and sit in on every single public meeting available.

You ask them repeatedly why there’s a delay in public record release. You ask them all privately at every meeting for an update.

Be patient. Be polite. Be kind. But be fucking absolutely persistent; especially at the public meetings.

They want to be a fucking obstructionist? No problem; be persistent and public. School board members are not generally career politicians; they’re largely single issue members who leave once their kids are done with the district or they move on to another office or area.

School board members don’t like political pressure from the public. School district administrators are largely shielded from the public. Make them feel the pressure.

HumblyTossed 46 minutes ago | parent

The people should do something about this.

underlipton 36 minutes ago | parent

At some point, we need to face the functional corruption of many of our basic institutions. Defund/Abolish the Police tried to force that reckoning, but no one wanted to hear it. This, in the same country that dismantled many of its own public school systems when racial integration was ordered, proving that such sweeping changes are possible when there is the will and funding behind it.

An outside observer could credibly conclude that Americans actually favor corruption in many instances. Certain instances.

spencerflem 25 minutes ago | parent

People wanted it, the protests were historically big. It’s billionaires, the politicians they buy, and the people influenced by the media they own that are opposed.

leptons 36 minutes ago | parent

They probably know their bad cops are going to end up costing them at least $2.5mil in fines and settlements.

phendrenad2 35 minutes ago | parent

If a hyper-left-leaning place like Eugene, Oregon is powerless to control their police department, what's the point of voting?

fn-mote 10 minutes ago | parent

Just the police department? Seems like the politicians are complicit. That’s a problem that voting can fix.

the_real_cher 17 minutes ago | parent

It should be called Pay for Information Act

sarjann 13 minutes ago | parent

Is there no organisation with power to police this? In the UK we have the ICO and if we're not satisfied with the response to a FOIA request we can escalate it to them.

ghusto 9 minutes ago | parent

Freedom of Information Act in the UK means I make a request, and I get the information I asked for within 30 days. No excuses, no nonsense "fees".

Just what in the hell is happening in the USA?