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| The department also has an opening for a public records manager |
As part of the upcoming book on Juggalos, I sought open
records from a number of police departments around the U.S. to find out what
they were looking for and what kind of communications they had both before and
after Juggalos were deemed a gang in the FBI’s bi-annual Gang Threat AssessmentReport in 2011.
One of the departments queried was the Albuquerque PD, which has had
massive troubles regarding conduct and is now
under federal oversight.
Reynaldo Chavez, the department’s records custodian and
point man for public records, immediately asked
for $250 to even continue to process my
request. “When all is said and done that amount will likely be much higher,”
he wrote to me.
We call this a creative denial, which is when a public body attempts
to prevent a requestor from moving forward. This often indicates there are some
records involved that the body does not want to make public but, if pressed,
would be forced to.
I called Chavez to discuss this fee but he told me that that
he was not permitted to discuss requests. I sent him an email advising him that I considered the $250 up front and his warning of "much higher" costs to be tantamount to a denial.
“You should also be advised, this is not a denial as you so
eloquently state since you are being offered responsive documents,” Chavez
said. “So this is an incorrect statement on your part...."
He also claimed he "did not
say I was not permitted to discuss [records requests] so again you are
incorrect…”
Of course he said it and was now backpedalling We never got
the records because it would be foolish to keep sending money to a department
with an already-dubious record for truth. After the first $250, Chavez could
easily have come back with a $1,000 bill.
Chavez was fired on August 24 and now claims he was ordered by his superiors to concoct a
means to deny public records requests. Now whom do we believe? Chavez was abrupt and
confrontational in dealing with me, the public. So it’s pretty hard to root for
him in this, or even believe him. Was he just carrying out orders when he made
his cloaked denial?
