Q. I submitted a FOIA request into the police department to find out the status of an extortion case, but the detective assigned to it has placed it in “pending” while doing absolutely nothing with it, i.e. he's clearly been negligent. I suspect that the police department is keeping the case active in order to prevent me from seeing it and verifying his negligence. Is there a way to report this?

A. Complaints against officers can usually be filed through the local police department's website.  Alternatively, you may file a lawsuit in Superior Court in the county where the records are located to challenge the department’s denial of access.