Delaware Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Delaware, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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When a Delaware county uses code enforcement against a homeowner over multiple years, can the homeowner FOIA the search warrant materials, hearing recordings, and internal communications, or are those covered by the investigatory files exemption?
The county must produce administrative hearing recordings and ordinary code enforcement records (notices, officer assignments) but can withhold search warrant applications, affidavits, and supporting …
Can a Delaware citizen get body-camera footage, dash-cam video, and police reports from a traffic incident the citizen was personally involved in once the investigation is closed?
No, not under FOIA. The investigatory files exemption in 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(3) covers records compiled for civil or criminal law enforcement purposes, including body-cam footage, incident reports, …
Can I get Delaware State Police body camera footage of my own arrest after the case is closed?
Generally no. AG opinion 26-IB05 found that the Delaware State Police did NOT violate FOIA by denying James Eaves's request for body-worn camera footage related to his closed criminal cases. The inves…
Can I get the police station booking-area video and 911 audio for an arrest where the charges were later dismissed?
No. AG opinion 25-IB65 found that New Castle County did NOT violate FOIA by denying Gordon Putnik's request for body-cam, dash-cam, 911 audio, CAD logs, dispatch notes, and station/booking video relat…
Can a Delaware citizen use FOIA to get police call logs and CAD records for a specific address, with personal info redacted?
No. The AG concluded the Delaware State Police did not violate FOIA by denying a request for calls-for-service logs and call summaries tied to a property. Such calls, on their face, would initiate pol…
If a Delaware town is considering banning chickens, can a resident FOIA the underlying complaints, and must the town post agendas online and keep detailed minutes?
The complaints are exempt and the town did not otherwise violate FOIA. Chicken complaints filed with the Town police and the Building and Code Official are part of investigatory files under 29 Del. C.…
If I called the police to report harassment and want to see the report I generated as a victim, can I get it through Delaware FOIA?
No. The AG determined that DSP did not violate FOIA when it denied the request. Section 10002(o)(3) treats police reports as investigatory files, which are categorically excluded from FOIA, and the op…
Does Delaware FOIA require a denial letter to cite specific statutory exemptions, provide an index of withheld records, or answer the requester's substantive questions?
No to all three. New Castle County did NOT violate FOIA by responding to Irina Genseruk's permit-history request with a partial production, an investigatory-files exemption note, and a website link. S…
Can a Delaware resident use FOIA to get police incident reports and service-call summaries about their own home and neighborhood?
No. The Delaware AG ruled the Delaware State Police properly denied a resident's FOIA request for police incident reports and service-call summaries about her own home and surrounding community. The i…
Can the Delaware State Police refuse to release body camera and dash camera footage from a 2023 incident under FOIA?
Yes. The body camera, dash camera, and helicopter footage of a January 2023 police incident, plus the radio communications between the officer and dispatch, fall within FOIA's investigatory files exem…
Can a Delaware county refuse to release zoning-violation records as 'investigatory files'?
Yes. The AG ruled Sussex County properly withheld records about violations on a Rehoboth Beach property under 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(3), the investigatory files exemption, after the County submitted a …
How specific does a Delaware agency's affidavit have to be when defending a FOIA search, and is naming the statutory exemption in a denial letter enough?
The Department of Elections's FOIA-coordinator affidavit identified the people consulted (10 Board of Elections members, 6 county directors, the State Election Commissioner, and others), explained why…
Can a Delaware reporter use FOIA to get a list of police calls for service to a specific address?
No. The AG concluded DSP could withhold a five-year list of calls for service to a private Wilmington address, because every call to a residence initiates a police investigation and the resulting reco…
Can a Delaware criminal defendant who says he was exonerated FOIA the dash and body camera footage from his own arrest cases after they close?
No. The AG held that the investigatory-files exemption in 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(3) is not limited to pending investigations and continues to apply after a case is closed, so DSP did not violate FOIA b…
Can a Delaware reporter FOIA the police interview transcripts of teens arrested for car theft to learn about their motives?
No. Delaware FOIA categorically exempts 'investigatory files compiled for civil or criminal law-enforcement purposes' (29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(3)). Police interview transcripts of arrested teens are exa…
Can someone ask Delaware DHSS for the full animal-cruelty complaint report under FOIA, and does that change if the report identifies the suspect and the witnesses?
No. Christiane Marchio asked DHSS for an animal-welfare complaint report. The complaint report (a LEISS report) names the suspect and complainants and is the basis for the investigatory file. The AG r…
Can an insurance company defending a fraud claim get Wilmington police body camera and street surveillance footage under FOIA?
Mixed. The City of Wilmington properly withheld three officers' body camera footage of a motor vehicle accident under § 10002(o)(3) (investigatory files compiled for civil or criminal law-enforcement …
Can a Delaware journalist get the date of death of a homicide victim from the medical examiner's office under FOIA?
No. The date of a homicide victim's death is recorded in the post-mortem report (exempt as an investigatory file under § 10002(o)(3)) and on the death certificate (statutorily confidential for 40 year…
Can a Delaware agency refuse to release records about how it killed a bird flu flock by claiming veterinary privilege and a federal Privacy Act exemption?
Not without specifics. The Department of Agriculture pointed at the federal Privacy Act, the Delaware veterinary-confidentiality statute, the FOIA investigatory-files exemption, and the working-draft …
Can a journalist get use-of-force data, prison reports, and video-retention policies from the Delaware Department of Correction under FOIA?
DOC properly withheld the use-of-force data and reports because they pertain to pending federal litigation against DOC employees (Davis v. Neal). DOC failed on its statutory and investigatory-file def…
Can a Delaware family obtain DHSS investigation records about a long-term care facility incident under FOIA?
No. DHSS properly denied a family member's FOIA request for all records relating to an alleged assault at a long-term care facility. The Division of Health Care Quality (DHCQ) investigates abuse, negl…
Are records of Delaware's Domestic Violence Fatal Incident Review process public?
No. The AG ruled the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council properly denied a Delaware Online reporter's request for the High Risk Team's documentation of a victim killed in 2021. 13 Del. C. § 2105(h)…
Can DNREC keep septic-inspection records secret while it investigates a Lewes manufactured-home community?
Yes. The investigatory files exemption in 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(3) covers DNREC's septic-inspection records of a Lewes community where DNREC has issued a notice of violation and is pursuing enforcemen…
Can a Delaware agency charge me $1,855 to maybe see vendor audits and warn that records may turn out to be exempt anyway?
Yes, the estimate was lawful. The Delaware AG ruled that DHSS did not violate FOIA when it provided an itemized $1,855.74 cost estimate for Connections vendor audits and reports. But the AG strongly c…
Can a private insurer use Delaware FOIA to dig up Department of Insurance records during a pending lawsuit and a Department examination hearing?
No. The Delaware AG ruled the Department of Insurance properly denied a 16-part FOIA request from GEICO's counsel, treating the request as an attempt to bypass discovery in the pending Green Litigatio…
Can someone in Delaware FOIA a copy of the police complaint that was filed against them?
No. The AG concluded that a criminal complaint filed against the requester is part of an investigatory file and categorically excluded from FOIA, even when the complaint is later found without merit. …
Can a Delaware journalist FOIA the fire marshal's records of a years-old, undetermined fire investigation that the agency claims is still technically open?
No. Wilmington's Fire Marshal investigators are law-enforcement officers, the criminal statute of limitations on arson had not yet run, and the Court of Chancery has held in News-Journal Co. v. Billin…
Can a Delaware attorney FOIA prison surveillance video and inmate disciplinary records?
No. The AG ruled DOC properly withheld correctional facility surveillance footage under the security exemption (§ 10002(l)(17)) and inmate disciplinary records under 11 Del. C. § 4322(a) (case records…
If a Delaware agency finally answers my FOIA request only after I file a complaint about its delay, can the AG still find a violation?
No. The AG ruled Jeffrey Clouser's FOIA petition against the Delaware State Police was moot because DSP issued its denial on the same day the petition was filed. The AG also reminded petitioners that …
If a Delaware police agency doesn't keep aggregate ballistics statistics, can a journalist FOIA that count?
No. The AG concluded the Delaware State Police did not violate FOIA when it refused to produce five years of bullet and casing counts, because counsel represented no such compiled record existed and F…
Can I FOIA Delaware's Office of Animal Welfare for the name and address of someone who filed an animal-control complaint about my property?
No. The Delaware AG ruled the Division of Public Health properly denied Laura Allen's request for animal-control complaint records targeting her address. The Office of Animal Welfare's complaints, com…
Can a Delaware police department withhold automated gunshot-detection data by saying every alert now starts a criminal investigation?
Yes, after April 2017. The Delaware AG ruled Wilmington Police properly invoked the investigatory-files exemption for ShotSpotter activation records dated after April 2017, when the City started auto-…
Can a Delaware agency hide police compensation records by tossing in three FOIA exemptions without explaining how any of them apply?
No. The Delaware AG ruled that DSHS violated FOIA by denying News Journal reporter Xerxes Wilson's request for Office of Highway Safety pay records to former Newport Police Chief Capriglione and other…
Can a Delaware agency hide federal-agency records by claiming they are part of someone else's law enforcement investigation?
No. The Delaware AG concluded that DNREC violated FOIA by denying AP reporter Randall Chase's request for PFAS water-monitoring records. DNREC could not invoke the investigatory-files exemption based …
Can a Delaware journalist FOIA the raw traffic-stop database used by State Police?
No. The Delaware AG ruled that the Delaware State Police properly withheld 10 years of raw traffic-stop data. The data is derived from police reports and accident reports, which are exempt as investig…
Can a crime victim use FOIA to get an unredacted copy of the Delaware State Police initial crime report?
The Delaware AG ruled that the Delaware State Police could not show its response to Jeffrey Clouser's FOIA request for an unredacted initial crime report was timely under § 10003(h)'s 15-business-day …
Can a Delaware journalist get a list of who has filed waste-fraud-and-abuse complaints with the State Auditor of Accounts, including the agency named and the reason?
No. The Auditor of Accounts' Hotline Log is an investigatory file 'compiled for civil or criminal law-enforcement purposes' under 29 Del. C. § 10002(l)(3), even though AOA is not itself a police agenc…
Is a police department's response to a FOIA request 'delivered' if it's left in a parcel box marked packages-only?
Yes. The AG found a Delaware police department's hand-delivered FOIA response was timely even though it was left in a porch box meant for packages, not letters, and separately upheld withholding a rec…
Can Delaware redact addresses and case narratives from an animal control call log released under FOIA?
Yes. The AG found the Division of Public Health could redact case numbers, addresses, witness names, and investigative narratives from an animal control call log as exempt investigatory files, though …
Can Delaware DOT redact the names of people who report problems through its online road-condition complaint form?
Yes. The AG found DelDOT could redact the names and addresses of everyone who submits a Road Condition Report, treating each submission as a potential civil investigatory file regardless of what categ…
Can a Delaware police-funding committee hold a closed session to discuss a fraud investigation into grant money?
Yes. The AG found the State Aid to Local Law Enforcement Committee properly closed part of its meeting to review an active investigation into possible misuse of grant funds with the assigned investiga…
Can Delaware deny you your own pre-employment background check records under FOIA?
Yes, if the agency was legally required to investigate you before hiring. The AG found DOC could withhold a rejected job applicant's own background investigation file as an exempt investigatory record…
Can Delaware DOT keep the identity of someone who filed a complaint about you confidential under FOIA?
Yes. The AG found that records identifying who complained to DelDOT about a person's mailbox are exempt investigatory files under FOIA, so the agency did not have to disclose the complainant's name or…
Can Delaware deny a FOIA request both because the requester isn't a Delaware citizen and because the records are investigatory files?
Yes. The AG found the Division of Professional Regulation properly denied a complainant's records request on two independent grounds: she wasn't a Delaware citizen, and the records were exempt investi…
Must a Delaware prison hand over its own cumulative summary reports on contraband seizures under FOIA, even if individual incident reports are exempt?
Yes for the summaries, no for the underlying reports. The AG found Delaware's Department of Correction violated FOIA by not turning over its own summary documents on contraband seizures at James T. Va…
Do Delaware prison officials have to release use-of-force reports and inmate grievances after a prison riot?
Mostly yes. The AG found the Department of Correction could withhold JTVCC exceptional-incident reports, use-of-force reports, inmate grievances, staff disciplinary records, and Rule 210 proceedings a…
Does a state agency have to get records back from the private shelter it contracts with to house seized animals?
No violation. The AG found the Division of Public Health didn't have to produce records about seized dogs' whereabouts because ownership of the dogs had already passed to a private shelter, which is n…
Can a Delaware state agency withhold correspondence with a developer by calling it part of an 'investigatory file'?
No, not here. The AG found that DNREC violated FOIA by withholding correspondence between a developer and the Sussex Conservation District under the investigatory file exemption, because the review at…
Can a government agency withhold emails about a possible environmental violation because there's already an investigation open?
Yes, according to this opinion. DNREC properly denied a News Journal reporter's request for emails about a possible crude-oil-shipment violation because the records fell within FOIA's investigatory-fi…
Can a reporter get the medical examiner's conclusion about a person's manner of death through a Delaware public records request?
No, according to this opinion. A reporter asked Delaware's Division of Forensic Science (DDFS) for the autopsy findings, and later just the medical examiner's conclusion on manner of death, in the cas…
Can a Delaware agency block a new records request just because it denied a similar one before?
No, the AG found. The Department of Labor violated FOIA by withholding routine wage-law inspection records, citations, and site-visit logs under a blanket "investigative files" exemption without expla…
Can a journalist get a sheriff's DUI prosecution file from Delaware's Attorney General after he's already pleaded guilty and been sentenced?
No, the AG found. Delaware's public records law draws a line between a person's own 'criminal record,' which anyone can get a copy of, and a prosecutor's 'criminal file,' which stays closed to the pub…
Can a Delaware town keep a neighbor's complaint letter confidential even after the mayor mentioned parts of it in public?
Yes, the AG found. The letter qualified as a law-enforcement investigatory file that could stay confidential to protect the complainant's identity, and neither the mayor's partial public comments abou…
Are autopsy and post-mortem reports public records in Delaware, or can police withhold them under FOIA?
No, they're not public. This opinion held that post-mortem reports prepared by Delaware's Chief Medical Examiner are exempt from FOIA as investigative files, and that a police department that merely r…
Can a newspaper get a police accident report if it isn't a party to a lawsuit the county says the report relates to?
The county couldn't use the pending-litigation exemption against a non-party newspaper, according to this opinion, but the AG still found the accident report exempt for a different, independent reason…
Can an out-of-state company use Delaware's public records law to get copies of local police accident reports?
No, according to this opinion. Delaware's FOIA only gives access rights to Delaware citizens, and a company that is not incorporated in Delaware and has no genuine Delaware presence does not count as …
Can a Delaware resident use FOIA to see a code enforcement complaint file about their own property, even after the case is closed with no charges filed?
No, under the law as it stood in 1999. The AG found that a Town of Elsmere Code Enforcement complaint file, opened over an unregistered vehicle, was protected from disclosure under FOIA's investigator…
Can a town withhold housing code violation notices from public records requests by calling them investigation files?
Yes, under the law as it stood in 1998. The AG found that a town's Code Enforcement Officer is an investigative agency, so notices of Housing Code violations qualify as exempt investigatory files unde…
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Attorney general opinions in Delaware are written by the Delaware Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.