Blog Posts
March 25, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
At its final meeting Monday (22), the Police Reform Commission agreed on a recommendation that the Metropolitan Police Department be required to release body worn camera (BWC) video with less redaction. The recommendation follows a legal opinion of the Office of Open Government (OOG) that present redaction incorrectly applies privacy protections in D.C public records […]
March 3, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
D.C. Public Schools officials now say that the cases of sexual misconduct in four schools in 2018-19 did not involve students. This information has been withheld from anxious parents but was obtained by the Open Government Coalition under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In response to community concern in 2019 after an incident […]
Some Long Overdue MPD Stop-and-Frisk Data Issued After Second Lawsuit
March 1, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
UPDATE 3/8/21: MPD released a full year of data for 2020 on Friday, March 5. Early write-up in dcist here. The dataset includes 81,000 stops and MPD provided a brief analysis. The Metropolitan Police Department on February 22 published year-old data on street stops for part of 2020, required by a provision of the wide […]
Public Will Have Greater Access in this Year’s D.C. Council Online Budget Hearings
February 23, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
UPDATE 4/14/21: The Council voted April 6 to extend the Fiscal Year 2022 budget submission date further, now to April 27, 2021. See April 12 readout by the Arent Fox law firm. UPDATE 3/1/21: The mayor and Council are postponing submission of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget in hopes it can include billions in federal […]
2021 Open Government Summit: Save The Date — Thursday, March 18, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
February 20, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
The D.C. Open Government Coalition invites you to this year’s Open Government Summit. Dive in with Coalition leaders and guests to examine public and charter school transparency, the coronavirus pandemic’s ongoing impact on government records access, and the views regarding government transparency of two recently elected D.C. Council members. This year, the annual Sunshine Week […]
More Transparent Policing: Open Government Coalition Agenda in Talks with Reform Commission
February 6, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
The D.C. Open Government Coalition has urged the D.C. Police Reform Commission to recommend expanded public information access as one key way to improve trust and accountability—specifically access to body-worn camera video and to complaints and investigations of misconduct. The D.C. Council established the 20-member commission last year, with a mandate to review policing practices […]
DC Parents Beg, Scrape and Crowdsource Covid-19 Data
February 5, 2021, by Sandra Moscoso
This piece was written by DCOGC Board Member Sandra Moscoso and edited by Board Member Miranda Spivack. This post is part of a series that will become a case study in the upcoming D.C. Open Government Coalition’s open government education and training program. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter at @DCOGC, our Facebook page, […]
More Schools Soon to Reopen in District, but Unclear What Data Being Used
January 29, 2021, by Sandra Moscoso
This piece was written by DCOGC Board Member Sandra Moscoso and edited by Board Member Miranda Spivack. This post is part of a series that will become a case study in the upcoming D.C. Open Government Coalition’s open government education and training program. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter at @DCOGC, our Facebook page, […]
January 26, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
Information on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) deadlines has been incorrect for weeks on the main website used by thousands submitting public records requests to over 50 D.C. agencies. The D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) also put incorrect deadline information in a standard form letter acknowledging a new request. Both texts misled the public. They warned […]
D.C. Police Stepped in to Help the Nation at the Capitol on January 6 — But Video is Secret
January 14, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has denied the D.C. Open Government Coalition’s request for body-worn camera video of officers’ engagement at the U.S. Capitol January 6, 2021. According to the agency denial letter, release of the video would be an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and also “could interfere” with an ongoing criminal investigation. The […]
