Outcomes - Selected Case Summaries
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Missing exhibit book and entries
Decisions | 19 October 2023
Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS)
An applicant made a request to the RCIPS for an exhibit book containing the entry for a specified exhibit, and for raw data relevant to a past trial. The RCIPS responded that the exhibit book containing the entry could not be found. The raw data had been redacted in the course of court proceedings, and, since the judicial functions of a court are excluded from the application of the Act, the RCIPS claimed that the FOIA did not apply. The issues being appealed were the search efforts made by the RCIPS, and the application of the judicial exclusion to the raw data.
The IM continued the search during the hearing and belatedly located the exhibit book, but it did not contain an entry for the named exhibit and was therefore not responsive to the request. The Ombudsman found that a reasonable search had not been conducted until the final stages of the hearing. The IM had not conducted an interview with the applicant, however, this did not impede the search. In regard to the second part of the request, the Ombudsman confirmed that the court had endorsed the redactions of the raw data, and the FOIA therefore did not apply to these records.
The Ombudsman noted that the RCIPS had responded outside the statutory timelines, and that the Chief Officer (or delegate) had not conducted an internal review as requested. The Ombudsman also recommended that the RCIPS review its recordkeeping procedures for the documentation of confiscated items and strengthen its procedures in support of the FOI process in order to avoid delays in the future.