Virginia Beach, Va. – The Virginia Beach Police Department will begin charging for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests beginning September 1st, the department announced Tuesday.
The charges will include, but are not limited to, research, scanning, copying and redactions. The charges are said to be reasonable and will not exceed the actual costs of processing, the department says.
The decision to start charging for requests is an effort to recover costs due to the large increase in requests. FOIA requests to the Virginia Beach Police Department have tripled over the last eight years, they say. These requests require additional manpower and materials to meet the demand.
The Virginia Beach Police Department will continue to provide citizens free access to Neighborhood Crime, Incident, and Traffic Accident reports via the Police Department’s self-service ePRO – Electronic Police Reports Online.
