Weekly ranking, Technology
Oregon Police Are Charging a Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records About One Cop
70Fresh Voice
A pointed op-ed built on a fresh local records fight, padded with familiar federal FOIA anecdotes and stock reform proposals.
What it adds
Documents a specific, very recent Eugene fee estimate and the city's all-employee search rationale, and argues it is a deliberate deterrent. It places the case among well-known federal fee horror stories.
Claim by claim
- 7 the author's own
- 2 an AI would say
- 1 known elsewhere
- 6 common knowledge
Its strongest original claims
- Eugene Police Department estimated Double Sided Media's records request about officer Justin Peckels would take 44,816 hours and cost about $2,484,599.04.
- Double Sided Media filed the request in August seeking records on potential misconduct by Peckels between 2018 and 2026.
- Peckels has faced community complaints including punching a resident in the face during a traffic stop.
- The city justified the cost by claiming it must search all records of all past and present city employees.
- The fee is an intentional effort to make the response artificially voluminous and intimidate the journalist into dropping it.
Scored by Expulp Verdict for what the piece adds beyond what is already known and published. The full verdict shows every claim with its reasons. Leaderboard, what Verdict gets right and where it is weak.