Read the PDF of our statement here.
LDF Files FOIA Request with the U.S. Justice Department for Documents Relating to the North Charleston, S.C. Police Department
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).
Our FOIA request asks for all documents, data, and other information that the COPS Office has received from the North Charleston, S.C. Police Department (NCPD) and city officials. The requested documents include grant applications and reports, as well as information gathered as part of the COPS Office’s comprehensive and independent assessment of the NCPD, which it began in May 2016. The request comes just weeks after LDF issued the findings of a comprehensive review of NCPD citizen complaint reports. As part of that report, LDF and our North Charleston partners also sent a letter to the COPS Office urging the immediate release of their collaborative review, which is essential to bringing meaningful and lasting policing reform to North Charleston.
Reform of the NCPD is long overdue, and we remain committed to taking any steps necessary to make real change a reality.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
