Oregon Police Are Charging a Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records About One Cop

The city of Eugene, Oregon, has charged a local news outlet $2.5 million for records regarding a police officer accused of misconduct. Double Sided Media, the outlet, filed a public records request for information about officer Justin Peckels in August, seeking records related to potential misconduct between 2018 and 2026. Peckels has been the subject of community complaints due to incidents such as punching a resident in the face during a traffic stop.

The response from the Eugene Police Department, however, is astonishing. They claimed that searching for records and processing the request would require at least 44,816 hours of staff time, costing approximately $2,484,599.04. This astronomical figure is not an anomaly. In 2015, the Department of Defense insisted on a 15 million-hour, $660 million timeline to fulfill a FOIA request regarding data preservation tools for seized devices.

In 2019, the Army attempted to charge $300,000 for military base water test results concerning toxic chemicals, only to reverse its decision following public backlash.

This response from the city is not merely a matter of incompetence but a deliberate attempt to make the public records request prohibitively expensive, effectively serving as a "gag order" to discourage the journalist from continuing their inquiry. The city's justification for the high fees centers around the difficulty in identifying the specific custodians who might have the relevant records, despite the targeted nature of the request.

What's more, the city's stance highlights a troubling conflict of interest. While the police department recently invested $342,000 in AI-powered license plate readers, they resist using simple keyword searches for public records, making the process cumbersome. This disparity illustrates a technology-driven double standard where the city prioritizes sophisticated surveillance tools but resists straightforward data access.

For small newsrooms like Double Sided Media, such fees are effectively a form of censorship. Despite Oregon's provisions allowing agencies to reduce fees when public benefits are realized, these agencies often ignore these provisions. The Intercept has also sued a Texas city over its refusal to release police records on a protest, echoing similar themes of intimidation and resistance to transparency.

The Eugene Police Department's $2.5 million invoice sets a disturbing precedent for using intimidation tactics against journalists and watchdogs, aiming to suppress public interest and accountability.