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| Canandaigua, NY Police officer Nicole Kadien |
Usually when a person is arrested and charged with a crime, they go through a booking process which includes being fingerprinted, and photographed.
On Friday November 30, 2012, I filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request with Ontario, County, NY, requesting Canandaigua, NY police officer Nicole Kadien's booking photo.
Kadien, an 8-year member of the CPD, was arrested on November 23, 2012 and charged with DWI after Ontario County, NY sheriff's deputies pulled her over after they observed her driving erratic.
On Monday December 3, 2012 I received an email from the Ontario County, NY Dept. of Records, Archives and Information Management Services stating that my FOIL request had been denied because her booking photo "Does not exist."
When I called the Ontario County Dept. of Records, Archives and Information Management Services, I was transferred to a woman named Colleen, who was not much help.
Throughout the conversation, Colleen was completely out of it and clueless.
She even laughs at the end of the conversation, which you can hear by clicking play below.
"Colleen" explained that not all individuals who are arrested are photographed.
In the conversation she states that perhaps officer Kadien was not booked, after her arrest.
When I asked her if officer Kadien was booked or not, Colleen replied by telling me that in order for her to tell me if officer Kadien was booked, I would have to file yet another FOIL request.
The website Findlaw.com gives the following description for booking:
After arrest, a criminal suspect is usually taken into police custody and "booked," or "processed."
During booking, a police officer typically:
Takes the criminal suspect's personal information (i.e., name, date of birth, physical characteristics);
Records information about the suspect's alleged crime;
Performs a record search of the suspect's criminal background;
Fingerprints, photographs, and searches the suspect;
Confiscates any personal property carried by the suspect (i.e., keys, purse), to be returned upon the suspect's release; and
Places the suspect in a police station holding cell or local jail.
(Note: persons arrested for minor offenses may merely be given a written citation and released, after signing the citation and promising to appear in court at a later date.)
As an activist against police misconduct and corruption, I'm starting to think that perhaps the Ontario County, NY Sheriff's department is protecting officer Nicole Kadien by refusing to release her booking photo.
After all, it's still not clear if, when Ontario County Sheriff's deputies pulled Kadien over and arrested her for DWI, they in fact knew she was a police officer.
Although many law enforcement officers carry a "flat badge" and/or some type of id in their wallet, or purse, officer Kadien was obviously out drinking it up that evening, so she may have made it a point to not have any law enforcement id on her.
So it could very well be that, if deputies didn't know she was a police officer until afterwards, that they may now be trying to do whatever they can, to minimize publicity surrounding her arrest.
Anything, like refusing to release her booking photo.
Whatever the case, it begs the question: Is Canandaigua, NY Police officer Nicole Kadien, whose husband Scott Kadien is a Sgt. with the Candaigua Police department, receiving special treatment?
Click Play to hear conversation:
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The booking photo, also called a 'mugshot'
