Attorney General Madigan Calls Shorewood Cops' Bluff

The Shorewood police will either have to call or fold.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is holding true to her promise of maintaining transparent government. Now, the cops have to show her their cards.

After the police denied Patch’s request for documents under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, Patch appealed to the attorney general.

In a response dated Aug. 15, Madigan’s office requested and required that the cops provide “clear and convincing evidence” of why they are denying the public’s right to information.

“We request that the Department provide us with an unredacted copy of the requested records, together with a detailed factual basis for asserting the above-referenced exemptions in partially denying Ms. Gallagher’s (Freedom of Information Act) request,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Tola Sobitan in a response letter stating that further inquiry is warranted.

The documents concern Shorewood’s’ only murder. In 1987, a dog found a human skull belonging to David Wolfson of Chicago. Wolfson’s body had been dumped along the northwest Interstate 55 Frontage Road. 

Patch requested the police report and any related documents concerning the 24-year-old case. The police released only a nine-page report with nearly six pages blacked out. None of the other documents were included. To read more about the denial, click .

Under the act, police are required to cite specific legal exemptions if they withhold or redact information. The Shorewood police cited an ongoing investigation and the use of special investigative techniques that would be detrimental to the department if disclosed.

Further, Acting Chief Aaron Klima said the five blacked-out pages listed people the police interviewed, all of whom are considered confidential informants. He did not want Patch to talk with any of them, he said.

That doesn't look like it's going to be enough to satisfy the attorney general's office.

“The Department’s response should include a detailed summary explaining how or why disclosure of the withheld records to Ms. Gallagher would obstruct ongoing criminal investigation and/or result in demonstrable harm to the Department,” Sobitan wrote.

Klima said the denial was made under the advice of village attorney David Silverman. Silverman was a Shorewood police officer at the time of the murder and coincidentally processed the Wolfson death scene — the scene of the very same crime he is now urging the police to withhold information about to the press.

Silverman told the Shorewood Patch that he never read the documents in question and said he was unaware of the exemptions cited by the police in their denial.

Instead, he made the generalization that he could not imagine a circumstance where the police would be willing to provide any of the names of the people they interviewed in an open investigation.

According to Madigan’s website, exemptions should be applied narrowly and specifically.

The police have seven days to respond. The attorney general will forward that response to Patch. Then Patch will have seven days to respond. At that point, the attorney general will make a final decision.