MAJOR updates on the FOIA requests @whereisourtent and I made to various orgs involved in the deployment of NIPAS officers to @copsoutofNU protests. What we thought was us being frozen out of information turned out to be far more institutionalized unaccountability. THREAD: (1/10)

To start, the City of Evanston has responded to neither of mine or Zach's FOIA requests that were due today. Zach had 1 due yesterday that they exercised an additional 5 days on, but it's radio silence on the other two. Ignoring a request counts as a denial under FOIA law. (2/10)

We'll see if they contact us tonight or Monday. Far more interesting, however, was the response Zach got to a FOIA request to the Northwest Central Dispatch System, the org NIPAS (should) be using as an intermediary for activations and deployments per their website. (3/10)

The last record NCDS had of an activation of NIPAS to Evanston was the Fossil Free NU protest way back in MARCH. When we pressed them with documentation of NIPAS deployments in October, they offered to talk on the phone to clarify things. (4/10)

That phone call was extraordinarily revealing, because they were telling the truth: NCDS *doesn't* have records of NIPAS callouts to Evanston in October. How?

Because NIPAS doesn't actually go through them anymore. And they haven't for about TEN YEARS. (5/10)

Despite NCDS still being named on the website as "the system’s dispatching center," they had been frozen out of NIPAS callouts a long time ago -- literally when they still used pagers I was told. Instead, member departments have been corresponding with each other directly. (6/10)

This explains the email chain between NIPAS and EPD found by @AdamLMahoney -- it also explains why getting any information on the identities of a. Who activated NIPAS and b. The actual officers on the ground has been difficult. (7/10)

NIPAS isn't an actual "entity" that can be FOIA'd, and NCDS is frozen out, leaving 80+ member depts to dig through. But EPD must have records of who activated them, right?

Well, they should. But our requests to them remain unanswered. (8/10)

It should be clear by now how ludicrously unaccountable all of this is. The kicker though?

NCDS already knew about us before the phone call, because they'd been contacted by EPD and NIPAS. They're coordinating their responses to us. (9/10)

This isn't stopping us, however. We will use every tool at our disposal, up to and including litigation, to gain access to these records.

If they're going to bring outsdie officers into Evanston to police our streets, we will know who they are. It's that simple. (10/10)