As long as we’re on the subject of sunlight and freedom of information, this article shows up in The Virginian-Pilot this afternoon:

A study released last year by the Knight Center on Open Government found that 12 of 57 federal agencies had FOIA backlogs of at least a decade, and that five agencies had requests dating back at least 15 years. According to its latest annual report filed at the end of 2007, the Department of Agricultures two oldest FOIA requests date back to 2000.  -=SOURCE=-

That is absolutely ridiculous. 

Requesting information of public records should not be such a pain in the backside.  They are MY records!  The government, whether local, state or federal are simply the custodians.

While I understand that some records should not be released, the overwhelming majority should.  And it should not be adversarial.  I should ask, the should provide.  Simple as that.

My next post will show how this is not the case. 

You can also read the various articles published at http://portsmouthvapolice.com.  And the documented difficulties that person has had and continues to have with the release of information he feels he is entitled to.

It is extremely frustrated and breeds an air of suspicion that is hard to overcome.