DSC_0061Secrecy surrounds Coast Guard rescue of injured hiker in Olympic National Park

“Coast Guard officials would not release the man’s name or hometown, citing an agency policy to require a Freedom of Information Act request for information on closed cases.”

Same rescue:

Olympic National Park identifies Bremerton hiker hurt on coast

 

US Border Patrol- same agency- different policy at different locations:

US Border Patrol, Port Angeles, WA-

Denied FOIA requests-

“The Border Patrol has refused repeated requests by the Peninsula Daily News — including those made under the Freedom of Information Act — for arrest totals for the Port Angeles station, which covers a territory that includes Clallam and Jefferson counties.”

Secret arrest statistics:

Aug 2010-

A US Border Patrol spokesperson tells the press:

“Border Patrol spokeswoman Jenny Burke said Monday that the agency will not release any information on the number of arrests made by agents who work out of the Port Angeles station, the names of those arrested, what they were arrested for and the disposition of their cases”

“The number of arrests for Port Angeles’ or any other station is “law enforcement-sensitive,” Burke said.”

“The names of those arrested and other facts about them are not available for release under the 1974 Privacy Act, she said.”

Aug 2011-

“In March, Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Richard Sinks declined to release statistics on apprehensions or detainments made by the Port Angeles station.”

“Disclosure of the arrest statistics from the Port Angeles station would provide those interested in crossing our borders illegally with information that could aid their strategic targeting of potentially vulnerable areas along the border,” he said in an e-mail. “To maintain operational security these numbers will not be provided.”

 

US Border Patrol, Erie, PA-

The people of Erie, PA did not have to submit a FOIA request to find out what justified the expansion of their local Border Patrol station-

No public information/security conflict at the U.S. Border Patrol station (not sector) in Erie, PA.

Erie Station- similar to Port Angeles in that it is separated from Canada by water.

Note: reports of the expansion at Erie include numbers of arrests out of that station:

“The Border Patrol operations in Erie, nearly six years old, include more than 30 agents who apprehended 588 illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2008-09.”

“The Border Patrol’s apprehensions in the Erie area have grown steadily, from 332 in fiscal 2006-2007 to 588 in 2008-09 to 305 so far in 2009-10.

Of those apprehended so far this fiscal year, 136 were individuals found by other law enforcement agencies and turned over to the Border Patrol.”

 

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