Redacting the obvious or the near obvious begs the question: why bother? One of my first FOIA requests was pertaining to a fundraising event Donald Trump held in Bolingbrook, Illinois last year. The Bolingbrook Police Department however felt it necessary to redact things that border on common sense. Let’s explore this closer.
Trump’s fundraiser took place at Bolingbrook Golf Club in Bolingbrook, IL. In the Bolingbrook PD’s Incident Action Plan, there’s a few redactions around staging areas.
The Bolingbrook Golf Club is right next to three Plainfield schools: Plainfield East, John F Kennedy Middle School, and Elizabeth Eichelberger Elementary.
Most likely the BPD’s plan refers to Plainfield East as it is a straight shot down the road from the golf course and contains multiple parking lots. At first while I was delighted that things were redacted, I was surprised at what was redacted, and ultimately underwhelmed. Per the BPD, “the disclosure of this information would jeopardize the effectiveness of the security measures and could reasonably endanger the life or physical safety of the members of the Village’s police department and/or the community.”
I understand why this information was redacted, as this is to prevent the knowledge from slipping into the public knowledge as future events will be held at Bolingbrook Golf Club, but when it is obviously the school, or one of the schools, next door like it feels very anti-climactic.