Dying for the records

There are several highly instructive points to be noted concerning the recent court experience of blogger/activist Vishal Persad’s Millennials for Change (MFC) in a freedom of information matter imaginatively labeled “Closed Cases: The Dead Speak.”

Persad had said at the start of the project in question that he was embarking on an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) exercise “to compel the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service to disclose investigative files” in several past cases in which the suspects/accused “are now deceased.” This, he said, was “to help foster transparency and accountability in law enforcement.”

MFC then attempted to get its hands on police files related to investigations on people such as Dole Chadee, Yasin Abu Bakr, former chief justice Satnarine Sharma, and the late police commissioner, Randolph Burroughs.

Effectively spurned by the Police Service (“thorough and diligent searches were made for the requested information, (but) searches proved futile”), and in an effort led by attorney Keron Ramkhalwan, attention turned last September to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Now, before we go there, the response of the police happens to be one helluva thing. Hopefully, this situation has either changed by now or there are firm plans to pay greater attention to securing such records. “Searches proved futile” is not a satisfactory response from a public authority of this nature. I thought securing intelligence was a key part of police work.

Meanwhile, the Office of the DPP acknowledged the request, then nothing happened for months and months. That was that. Or so some thought.

In January, MFC filed for a judicial review based on the lack of responsiveness of the Office of the DPP. Last week, Justice Devindra Rampersad ordered delivery of a firm decision by the DPP on whether the request would in fact be pursued. It was clearly not enough to say, “request received” and leave it at that. What makes employees of a population believe they are entitled to behave that way? If they say “no”, that will be another story.

This particular angle on the pursuit of public records, held in trust by a public authority, was inspired by the “FOIA the Dead” efforts of US advocate Percy Higgins who, since 2017, has filed freedom of information requests with the FBI on every public personality whose obituary appears in the New York Times.

A Freedom of the Press Foundation article on the project morbidly describes the website on which the findings are found as: “the transparency site public figures are dying to get into.”

The website now houses close to 6,000 pages of FBI records on 60 public personalities. I warn you, if you don’t have lots of time on your hands, do not venture onto that site.

It however appears that Persad was prepared to go there, and impressively so. So, point number one of my “highly instructive” argument: The Freedom of Information Act – whatever its flaws – is one of the most important tools for citizen access to the records of public authorities with few exceptions, as described in the legislation.

The Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC), which I serve as vice president, recently published an analytical report on the nine English-speaking Caribbean countries in which such a law exists.

Its principal author, attorney/journalist Dionne Jackson-Miller of Jamaica, noted in successive workshops with journalists that the basis for much of the official lethargy on this subject is a pervasive “culture of secrecy.”

Additionally, our FOIA is at the disposal of all citizens – not just journalists and others interested in publicising the material that reaches their hands.

Impressively, MFC, as an NGO engaged in blogging its activities, has also been able to access records on the employment practices of several government ministries and the Police Service.

It is also currently sorting the findings of an investigation into the granting of Firearm Users Licences; and pursuing more detailed information on the incidence of murder in T&T.

These kinds of public interest activities are to be commended. MFC is one of several organisations active in this area. Traditional journalists and mainstream media are not sole principals of such an obligation and its accompanying rights.

For this reason, among others, the current public communication landscape offers positive outcomes not previously available. It includes content produced by a wide variety of online operatives – especially those who consider themselves to be under a presumed obligation, as is the case with most journalists, to be honest, fair, balanced, and accountable.

Outside of that, it becomes more difficult to defend their work. Persad and his MFC team appear to be on the right track.