Eugene Police Charge Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records on Officer Misconduct

Records Request for Officer Misconduct

In August, local news outlet Double Sided Media filed a public records request with the city of Eugene, Oregon. The request sought information regarding potential misconduct by police officer Justin Peckels between 2018 and 2026. Officer Peckels has been the subject of community complaints, including an incident where he allegedly punched a resident during a traffic stop.

Eugene Police Department's Response

The Eugene Police Department responded to the request by estimating the cost to be approximately $2.5 million. This figure is based on an estimated 44,816 hours of staff time required to search for and process the records. A separate request for records concerning former officer Eric Klinko received a quote of $195,869.52, bringing the total for both requests to nearly $2.7 million.

Justification for High Cost

The department's letter stated that processing would continue only after payment of the initial $2,484,599.04. The city justified the high cost by claiming it could not narrow down the custodians whose records needed to be searched, despite the specific nature of the request. It maintained that all records of all city employees, past and present, would need to be manually reviewed.

Allegations of Obstruction

Critics suggest that the exorbitant cost estimate is an intentional effort to make the public records request prohibitively expensive. This tactic is seen as an attempt to intimidate the journalist into dropping the request, rather than a genuine reflection of the processing burden. The city's methodology implies that records from any city department could contain relevant information, necessitating a broad and costly search.