FOIL it and Find Out! A Guide to Submitting Open Records Requests in New York State and Why it is Important

New York State’s (NYS) Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) is an invaluable tool for historians, sociologists, researchers of any kind, and the public. Want to get the names, staff positions, races, ethnicities, and genders of all of the people who work at your local school district? FOIL it! Do you want to see the body worn camera footage from that time your neighbor was racially profiled and pulled over on his bicycle? FOIL it! What about the names of Department of Environmental Services workers who helped bulldoze a homeless encampment five days before Christmas back in 2014? FOIL it! Any local, county, or state government business within NYS is your business and, under FOIL, you have the right to obtain records and information about the work of government.

Over the past 16 years, I have submitted hundreds of FOIL requests and appeals.[1] The data I collected using FOIL informed my master’s thesis about the NYS notice of claim process. In 2023, I asked for all Rochester Police Department (RPD) body worn camera footage for 600 encounters from 2017 to 2019. That FOIL is still in process. I have also FOILed for 30,000 emails from a local government agency head and decades of use of force reports from police agencies across Upstate New York. My friends and colleagues have branded me the “FOIL King.” (I’m not into monarchy, but it has a nice ring!) Together with my colleagues in the Upstate New York Policing Research Consortium (UNY-PRC), I am developing a systematic FOIL strategy to liberate police documents across Upstate New York for public access in the UNY-PRC Digital Archive.

My goal is to make us all FOIL kings—to truly democratize knowledge and support people using FOIL to make government transparent—and show other researchers that this is a viable and underutilized research tool.

What is FOIL?

The Freedom of Information Law, passed in 1974 and strengthened in 1977, affirms that “The people’s right to know…is basic to our society” and gives individuals the ability to request “documents and statistics leading to determinations” or decisions that affect people in NYS.[2] Beyond the courts, there is no other enforcement mechanism for the law. However, the Committee on Open Government (COOG) provides interpretations of FOIL, the Open Meetings Law (OML), and the Personal Privacy Protection Law (PPPL) and acts as a clearing house of information complete with a database of over 25,000 advisory opinions available to the public, local and state agencies, and the press. The COOG is housed within the NYS Department of State and shares a unique relationship with the governor’s office in that it is both a watchdog and also an agency of state government. It is a tremendously useful resource.

FOIL is distinct from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). FOIA is the federal law that authorizes civilian and press access to government information at the federal level and all its agencies.[3] Figure 1 shows the federal, state, and local levels where open records requests can be filed. President Lydon Baines Johnson signed FOIA into law in 1966. FOIA mandated that all fifty states create open records processes and agencies to administer open records requests affecting local and state government. Over time, these agencies “dissolved or folded into other offices;”[4] New York and Connecticut are the only states with such agencies left.

Why FOIL?

FOIL and FOIA grant civilians access to government records. My interest in this process came after I was arrested in 2009 by RPD officers after witnessing them use excessive force on a friend during an anti-war protest. Long story short, the charges were dropped, but I had many questions about police accountability and use of force. Many years and many FOILs later, I have been able to answer some of those questions in published, collaborative work.[5]

I submitted my first (and most memorable) inquiry to learn about the demographics of the RPD. After several months and three requests, I received 15 pages of documentation and a photocopy bill for $3.75. I was so excited! From this data, I learned a lot about the RPD in 2010:77% of officers in Rochester were white whereas only 36.4% of city residents identified as white. And 87% of officers did not live in the city that they policed.[6] FOIL helped me address questions about the RPD with data, and I’ve been addicted to the process ever since.

My interest in the RPD, with its violent history, led Barbara Lacker-Ware and I to write a community report in 2017 using data received through FOIL: The Case for an Independent Police Accountability System: Transforming the Civilian Review Process in Rochester, New York.[7] We proposed legislation calling for the abolition of Rochester’s Civilian Review Board (CRB) and the establishment of the Police Accountability Board (PAB) based on the law that established the Citizen Review Board in Syracuse, NY. What began as a FOIL request—and the urge to rein in police power—became legislation that was passed via referendum by 75% of the city electorate in 2019 to establish Rochester’s PAB![8]

How to submit a FOIL request

In most cases, FOILs can be submitted online at the agency website through a webform or email address directly to the appropriate government agency: state or municipal department; board, bureau, or division; commission, committee, or public authority; public corporations, councils, and offices; other governmental entity performing a governmental or proprietary function for the state; and municipalities.[9] Search the agency page for “FOIL” to find the records access officer name and email address. If such information is not available, submit your request to the agency head with the subject “ATTN: Records Access Officer.”

When making FOIL requests, be as specific as possible. Include dates, times, locations, keywords, identifying phrases, names—including the names of the types of records you are seeking—or citations to news articles referencing the events or records you are looking for. Do the best you can. It’s important to remember that the people on the other side of the FOIL process do not have the same knowledge, curiosity, or investment in your project. They most likely do not have library science or archivist degrees, so provide as much information about what you are looking for and where best it can be found.

Here are some of my initial requests:

• I would like 2017 Rochester Police Department demographics including: officer’s names, ranks, gender, race, ethnicity, age, zip code of personal residence and base salary (no OT or other benefits).
• I would like to inspect all City Council resolutions implementing and expanding the Complaint Investigation Committee (CIC) for reviewing complaints against police officers.
• I would like copies of all subject resistance reports from 2020-2023.

There is no requirement to explain why you are requesting the information or how you might use it. If one exists, consider citing a COOG advisory opinion that is favorable to your position. Overall, be intentional and concise. And have compassion for the people on the other end. I always conclude with: “Thank you for your time and consideration with this request.”

There can be costs associated with FOIL. Hard copies can cost up to $0.25 per page. If preparing the records exceed 2 hours of work or require specialized technical abilities, agencies can charge hourly staffing rates, the cost of a storage device (e.g., a thumb drive or CD-ROM if applicable), or the cost of hiring an outside consultant. Agencies should provide an estimate of costs before concluding the work. You can include in your initial request that “If fulfilling the request will cost more than ‘x’ dollars to complete the request, then I would like an estimate.” Record preparation costs do not include search time, administrative costs, or redactions—and this includes digital redactions to records like police body-worn camera footage.

Each step of the FOIL process has a legally binding timeline subject to administrative appeal. The major deadlines are:

• Initial acknowledgement: the agency has 5 days to acknowledge and respond to the petitioner’s request (you submitting the FOIL) in these ways:
  • Grant the request
  • Deny the request
  • Provide an approximate date when the request will be granted or denied
• Final disposition of request: the agency has 20 days from the date of the acknowledgment of receipt of your request to
  • Grant the request in full or in part and relinquish the data
  • Deny the request—with an articulated legal reason per FOIL statute
  • In writing, give a reason for the agency’s inability to grant or deny the request and provide a reasonable date when the request will be filled
• File an administrative appeal: the petitioner has 30 days to file an appeal from the date of the (constructively) denied request to the department head, chief executive, governing body, or their designée
• Response to administrative appeal: the agency head or designée has 10 days to respond to the appeal
• Article 78 Court Filing: should the administrative appeal be denied, the petitioner has 60 days to file a lawsuit (Article 78) against the agency

FOIL Denials

There are several types responses used to deny requests, including articulated legal exemptions to requests where they can be legally denied. For instance, requests to the judiciary branch of NYS can be prima facie denied. Other general exemptions include, but are not limited to, if the information has been specifically exempted from disclosure by state or federal law; if disclosure would invade personal privacy or endanger someone.[10]

That said, a denial should not end your search. You can always ask again, modify your question, and resubmit. Constructive denials occur when the agency does not respond within the statutory time limits or somehow impedes access to information—regardless of the request’s denial or granted status. These can come in many forms.

• There is the always exciting non-response where the agency seems to think that if they ignore your request, you will go away.
• Extension notification. I get these regularly when I FOIL for large amounts of data. The agency should send you a monthly update about when the FOIL request will be filled. If this extends beyond four months, file an administrative appeal on constructive denial grounds.
• Flat-out denial. According to the law, the agency must articulate why the request was denied based on the exemptions found within the law. Otherwise, an administrative appeal can be filed. One excuse that some agencies like to use is that a request is “voluminous” or “burdensome.” Nothing in the law says a request can be flatly denied for being too big or too troubling.
• Nonexistent record. Sometimes agencies cannot find the requested information and claim that no such record exists. In these cases, filing an administrative appeal is a good bet; here, you are appealing because you believe the information does exist and you want certification that such records do not exist. Should you file a lawsuit, the court expects evidence of a diligent search on the part of the agency. Sometimes merely requesting certification that a diligent search was conducted on administrative appeal can make the records magically appear.
• Proprietary reasons. Some data may be in a proprietary format and therefore unreadable by different computer operating systems. For example, I asked for stationary, light pole police camera footage of some intersections in Rochester. I received a CD in the mail with the files I needed. The problem was that the files were in a format unreadable to my Mac and appeared to be a file type made by the company that housed the footage. Yes, my FOIL was granted, but I could not read the data, meaning it was constructively denied. In these cases, file an administrative appeal based on constructive denial grounds because the data is unusable in the form it was transmitted. Agencies will typically respond by making the data available in formats that are accepted across platforms—as they did in my case. If they refuse, that is a reason to file a lawsuit.

One strategy for denied requests is to look for other FOIL cases that were successful and similar to your own. Start by conducting an internet search with the words “FOIL,” “granted request,” and the information you are looking for to find a similar request. I was requesting RPD officer residential zip codes and kept getting denied. I found a story about an independent journalist in NYC who had FOILed for similar information about NYPD officers. His FOIL—he was looking for billing zip codes—was granted. I re-wrote my FOIL along similar lines, resubmitted, and was granted the data.

Administrative Appeals

When someone appeals a FOIL determination, the COOG reviews the case and will either point to an existing advisory opinion or write a new opinion to be added to their database. While they are not legal precedent, they do tend to shape the policy of government agencies. The courts also use these opinions in their own rulings.

Petitioners can file appeals based on the denials above. This is called exhausting one’s administrative remedies. Once these are exhausted, if needed, the petitioner can file a lawsuit. Most of my appeals are filed on timeliness or constructive denial grounds.

To file an administrative appeal, submit a letter to the agency that is addressed to the agency head, the Records Access Officer, or To Whom It May Concern. Provide an accurate description of the FOIL process as you have experienced it, the information you requested, the response you got (or did not get), and the grounds for appeal. Throughout the letter, bold the reference number assigned to the FOIL request.

The first paragraph of the appeal letter spells out basic elements of the situation. Include a request timeline (original date of submission, the specific information sought, the date that the city received the request) and a summary of what happened. I end the paragraph by firmly requesting that the data I asked for be immediately released.If needed, include a paragraph outlining any advisory opinions or evidence (included with the appeal) that you think justifies the release of data.

The next two paragraphs are boiler-plate and should be included in all appeals. These paragraphs remind agency heads of their obligations to respond to the appeal within 10 business days, articulate a legal reason for denying the request in writing, and that all appeals must be cc’d to the Committee on Open Government. This gives the COOG the ability to review appeals and issue advisory opinions if needed. Conclude with a pleasantry and signature.

In some cases of appeal, the agency head agreed with me and released the information I requested. In others they denied my request, sometimes within the legal scope of the law and other times outside of it. Denied requests may be subject to an Article 78 lawsuit, in which “the agency involved shall have the burden of proving that such record falls within the provisions” of the law.[11] A denied administrative appeal does not mean that a lawsuit is automatically filed. Here, you need to determine if you want to proceed and if so, find an attorney to take your case or file and represent yourself.

For FOIL templates and examples of appeals as well as other information pertaining to FOIL check out The Spoils of FOIL by attorneys David Roth and Robert J. Freeman. My own appeals—one on timeliness grounds and the other on constructive denial grounds—demonstrate the ease of writing administrative appeals.

Additional Tips for FOIL Success

• Develop relationships with attorneys who might represent you in Article 78 proceedings. I filed an Article 78 case with my attorney, Elliot Shields, who took my case on a contingency basis.[12] He represented people who had been assaulted by police, and I reported on such stories. Our case led to getting body-worn camera footage I requested and striking down a city policy that ran counter to the state’s FOIL statute. Having a relationship with a competent attorney is vital to show agencies that you are not afraid to involve the courts and that you are firm in your understanding of the law and the spirit of the FOIL statute.
• Keep track of your FOIL requests. I have a digital sticky note on my computer desktop where I document what I asked for, the FOIL numbers they gave my requests, dates when communication was sent and received, and deadlines for when appeals need to be filed. This can be done on a word document, a spreadsheet, pencil and paper, or whatever makes sense to you.
• Finally, consider the implications of the data you acquire: what are you going to do with it? In other words, the data you FOIL for could be useful to other people for other purposes. The data is public information and ought to be shared. For example, I am a co-founder of UNY-PRC, which archives policing data and makes it accessible to other researchers and the public. I use the FOIL process to collect data, analyze it, and then publish my findings in academic journals. Before journeying into academia, I published stories and FOILed data on Rochester Indymedia’s FOIL page. Just consider how you might share your data!

But don’t take my word for it, FOIL it and find out!

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[1] I am not an attorney and I am not providing legal advice.

[2] Read the full text of the FOIL preamble (N.Y. Pub. Off. art. 6, § 84, 2020).

[3] Schudson, Michael. 2019. “Origins of the Freedom of Information Act in the United States.” In N. Bowles, J. Hamilton, & D. A. L. Levy (Eds.), Transparency in politics and the media: Accountability and Open Government. (1st ed., pp. 1–18). I.B. Tauris.

[4] Orzechowski, Brett. 2018. FOIL: The law and the future of Public Information in New York. Syracuse University Press, p. 8.

[5] See Lacker-Ware, Barbara and Ted Forsyth, The Case for an Independent Police Accountability System: Transforming the Civilian Review Process in Rochester, New York, (2017, Rochester, NY: self-published); Forsyth, Ted and Mallory Szymanski, “Family Trouble”: The 1975 Killing of Denise Hawkins and the Legacy of Deadly Force in the Rochester, NY Police Department, (2024, Genealogy 8(15)); Forsyth, Ted and Mallory Szymanski, Killer cop as tragic hero: Master narrative and media representation of two killings by the same officer in New York State, 1975 and 2012, (2025, Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture 25(2):24-39); and Forsyth, Ted, Gregory Drake, and Irshad Altheimer, Understanding Unexceptional Civil Claims Against the Police: An Examination of the Relationship between Claimant, Claim, and Situational Factors on Final Settlement Amounts, (2026, Journal of Crime and Justice:1-27).

[6] US Census Bureau. 2010. QuickFacts: Rochester City, New York. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/dashboard/rochestercitynewyork/POP010210

[7] Barbara and I wrote the report with input from coalitional partners: Enough Is Enough, the New York Civil Liberties Union – Genesee Valley Chapter, and United Christian Leadership Ministries of Western, NY.

[8] Unlike the vast majority of CRBs across the country, the PAB granted civilians on the board the power to both investigate complaints of misconduct and discipline police officers using a progressive disciplinary matrix. Challenges to the law that was passed in 2019 have stripped it of most of its powers. Chief Judge Rowan Wilson of the NYS Court of Appeals stated “If Rochester’s desire to establish an independent disciplinary commission is in fact consistent with state policy, the Legislature may easily correct our error. Otherwise, someone will have to explain to the people of Rochester why they cannot vote to rein in police misconduct while both New York City and the Town of Wallkill may.”

[9] See N.Y. Pub. Off. art. 6, 2020, §86.

[10] See N.Y. Pub. Off. art. 6, 2020, §87(2).

[11] See N.Y. Pub. Off. art. 6, 2020, §89(4)(b).

[12] This is different from an attorney taking someone’s case pro bono, which means “free services.” Contingency means that I pay nothing up front for legal assistance. If I win, my attorney collects a percentage of any award or settlement; what that percent is needs to be determined between you and your attorney. It shifts the risk to the attorney to motivate them to expend the time and resources needed to win your case. If you lose the case, again depending on the contract, you may be on the hook to pay for certain litigation expenses (e.g., court filing fees, expert witness fees, deposition costs, transcript production costs, etc.).