Appellate Court: Will County Sheriff Must Produce The 911 Call Recordings We Requested Under FOIA –

Springfield, IL. (ECWd) –

The Third Appellate Court issued its 22-page Opinion/Order on Will County Sheriff’s appeal of Summary Judgment granted in our favor by the Will County Circuit Court on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit we filed against the Will County Sheriff for denying our access to 911 call recordings dealing with Wesley Township’s Rivals Park.

Oral arguments were held in the Appellate Court on January 24, 2022 (here).

Will County Circuit Court granted our Motion for Summary Judgment on January 11, 2021 (here). In the Circuit Court’s Order, it ordered the Sheriff to provide the recordings (using voice “masking” software) “or” and in the alternative to provide a transcript of the recordings.

Wesley Township is the township that started charging an (unlawful) fee to use the park in order “to keep the park from being overrun by blacks and Mexicans” and we believed this township had started using 911 calls and the county sheriff to intimidate its residents who frequented the park and were attempting to create a list of people to ban from the park (through their use of the 911 system).

From the Appellate Court’s Order:

• In sum, we affirm the trial court’s finding that the 911 calls in this case are not exempt from disclosure. We also affirm the trial court’s order requiring the Sheriff’s Office to provide the 911 calls using audio masking software. However, we reverse the trial court’s order requiring the Sheriff’s Office to provide transcripts of the 911 recordings.

It is unknown at this time if this Appellate Court’s Order will be appealed to the Supreme Court by the Will County Sheriff.