Newspaper sues New Orleans police dept. over records requests

The Times-Picayune [New Orleans] filed suit against the New Orleans Police Department on Friday, claiming the agency has both routinely delayed releasing incident reports and failed entirely to provide numerous records that the newspaper has requested.

The lawsuit specifies six records requests, which the paper submitted to the police department between December 2007 and March 2008 that have yet to be fulfilled.

The paper is also seeking an order to compel the department to provide electronic copies of routine incident reports that it currently receives in hard copy only. This would prompt a more timely exchange of crucial, daily crime information between the police and the newspaper, the lawsuit states.