Three months ago, we submitted a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

We simply wanted a neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdown of crime statistics in the 52nd Precinct. We received such a report directly from the precinct last year. And the 50th Precinct regularly provides similar information to The Riverdale Press.

Our readers tell us they find it useful to know the number of robberies and murders right on the streets where they live, stroll and send their kids to school. We receive lots of positive feedback from local residents whenever we’ve published such information.

Ask concerned residents, especially those who want to help by being the precinct’s eyes and ears, and they’ll tell you that stats for an entire precinct are useless without information about where those crimes occur. People want to know what’s happening in their neighborhoods.

This year the commander of the 52nd Precinct told us we needed to request this sector-by-sector breakdown from Police Department headquarters, and the press office there said we needed to file a FOIL request, basically a formal letter detailing the information sought.

A month after we sent the letter, the NYPD’s Legal Bureau replied that it would take three months – until April 17 – to make a determination as to whether they could release the information. This is unacceptable, especially since the precinct could provide us with the information practically instantaneously.

We spoke with Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne two weeks ago and he said he’d look into it, but he still hasn’t gotten back to us or responded to a follow-up e-mail.

Keep in mind that this is information that the Police Department routinely collects, and is in fact the basis of the storied Compstat program, where police resources are supposedly deployed according to areas where it is most needed.

We’ve had a good relationship with 52nd Precinct officials, who have given us access to these and other statistics in the past. We have no gripe with them.

This clampdown is coming from the top.

We will continue to press the NYPD to release this basic public information. And our readers should feel free to do the same. The Freedom of Information Law is not just for reporters. It is for everyone.

Coincidentally, it is Sunshine Week nationwide, where news organizations nationwide work to raise public awareness of freedom of information laws and problems with their implementation.

Consider this our contribution to the effort.

If you would like to learn more about FOIL, which is a state law (federal agencies are governed by the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA) go to the Web site of the state

Committee on Open Government at www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/coogwww.html or just Google it. If you have any questions about FOIL, e-mail us at norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org.

Ed. note: The day this issue of the Norwood News hit the streets, March 19, NYPD headquarters provided the information we requested. More about this here.