"It's a whole different ballgame from what we were operating under before," said Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, already involved in a series of public-record disputes with the state and the city.
The ACLU approached the Philadelphia Police Department early this year, looking for data on how the department deals with undocumented immigrants, and what happens when police stop pedestrians under the department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" program.
The department acknowledged receiving the request, but never delivered any data. After 30 days, the ACLU appealed for help to the OOR - which was also ignored by the Police Department. The OOR eventually ruled that the ACLU had a right to the data, and that the police were "willfully not complying."
Even then, the Police Department remained unresponsive, until the ACLU filed a lawsuit in Common Pleas Court.
Because of the OOR's decision, Roper said, there was a threat that the city would have to reimburse the ACLU for its legal costs.
"That's so much more leverage than we would have had under the old law," Roper said. The city is now working to accommodate the group.
"I think ultimately we'll wind up getting what they have," Roper said.
