The Moment She Realized She Couldn't Lie Anymore

On October 24, 2016, Heather Sykes, the FOIA coordinator for the Washington County Sheriff's Office in Michigan, sat for a deposition that would expose how a routine records request can unravel into a legal battle over privacy, public access, and the assumptions public officials make about who deserves information. The case: Innocent Until Proven Guilty LLC v. Washington County Office of the Sheriff. The request: electronic copies of mugshots from a two-week period in August 2016, along with the corresponding names of those arrested or charged. Sykes denied it. The deposition reveals exactly why—and what that decision cost.

The FOIA Request and the Denial

The request arrived at the sheriff's office on August 5, 2016, addressed to the FOIA coordinator. It sought booking photographs of everyone arrested or charged between August 7 and August 18, 2016, along with their full names. Sykes, who had been the FOIA coordinator for about five years, processed it herself. She checked box D on the standard denial form: the request was denied because it would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."