Mob FOIA

With 2024 soon to be a thing of the past, your year-end challenge this time is a word-ladder. Can you turn FOIA into SPAM in fewer than 6 steps?

FOIA
FOIL
FOAL
FOAM
FLAM
SLAM
SPAM

The Lake County Gazette did it in 25 steps. They spammed no fewer than 25 Lake Count Police Departments with FOIA requests:

Here is what they said:

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was sent to the [redacted] Police Department in Illinois on December 12, 2024. The request was made by the Lake County Gazette, a media organization committed to providing comprehensive and accurate news coverage on local governmental affairs. In our quest for transparency and accountability, we sought access to arrest records from January 1, 2018, up until the present date. The requested data fields include the arrestee's name, arrest date, gender, race, date of birth, and the crime committed.

We also highlighted our eligibility for a fee waiver as a media professional due to our role in disseminating information.

Why burden Police Departments with nuisance FOIAs, when most police blotters are already posted on the web? Because the Lake County Gazette.

Note to Ops: A public body can deny a FOIA request if it is "unduly burdensome". It is not for nothing the Lake County Gazette will always be Lake County's #1 fakenews source!