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Freedom of Information Act:



America home of the free and the brave, here in the United States of America we have a lot more freedom than other countries in the press, social media, etc. The Freedom of Information Act is a piece of legislation that grants public access to documents or other data in the possession of the government agency or public authority. Unless the information falls into a category that specifically excluded from the terms of legislation.

A story involving this act hit the presses and is bringing in a lot of attention. A former police officer for the Bakersfield Police Department in California has recently had claims filed against him for sending explicit images and messages to a 911 caller. The woman has also filed a claim against the police department as a whole for not properly training Officer Enrique Mosqueda or supervising him while on duty. The young woman whose name is being withheld by the media made a 911 call saying she believed her ex boyfriend was outside her home vandalizing her vehicle. One arriving at the scene with his partner, Officer Mosqueda determined that there was no crime or threat he left the woman's property. He then left and proceeded to write a report on the incident in his squad car, and then believed that he saw someone who could have been the ex boyfriend. Then proceeded to text the woman for a picture of her ex so he could know who he was looking for since they didn't have a description of the man on file. A conversation continued between the two as he returned back to the house to look at photos of the ex boyfriend. Officer Mosqueda said that upon his second visit to the home that the woman was making sexual advances which then proceeded to the later conversation. The text conversation then took a unexpected turn as sexual messages were exchanged between the two and a graphic photo was sent of the officer in his squad car while on duty. The whole exchange was allowed to be released to the press due to the freedom of information act shedding some more light on the situation.

Recently the government and citizens have brought attention to the Freedom of Information Act and what exactly it entails. The Supreme Court met on Monday and discussed what exactly the term confidential meant for over an hour. If changes are made it could have major restrictions on what information the government would have to release and public records would be harder to access. Recently the Food Marketing Institute stated they had an argument with the act as it left to broad of a topic or definition of how much and when the government had to release the information. Multiple other organizations and social groups have stated the want the government to shorten and better define the FOIA so the terms of the act are clear. The nine justices of the Supreme Court even after debating the definition they still are unsure on whether narrowing down the terms of the act would have a negative or positive effect on the government and citizens of the United States. These instances plus many more show just how important things like the Freedom of Information Act is and why we need things like it in place.


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