eFoia Audit of Washington, D.C.

Web FOIA Compliance: Office of the Chief Medical Examiner

Government agencies in Washington, D.C., broadly ignore a 2001 law, which requires them to post 10 categories of public records on their websites, according to a public records audit conducted by the D.C. Open Government Coalition in conjunction with the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

Public Information What's on the Website Link
How to FOIA
 There is a FOIA Requests link on the home page. click here
Employee information: names, titles, salaries, dates of emloyment
 There is an organizational chart but the chief medical examiner is the only person identified and no other personnel information is provided. click here
Staff manuals, instructions Manuals, policies and procedures are posted in the Frequently Requested FOIA Materials section. These include the employee and operating procedure manuals plus others on Jurisdiction, Customer Service, Death Investigation, Autopsy, Identification, Record Keeping, and Quality Assurance. click here
Final opinions, orders Autopsy reports cannot be obtained online, however there are instructions on how to obtain a hardcopy. click here
Interpretations of policies, rules, acts Autopsy reports cannot be obtained online, however there are instructions on how to obtain a hardcopy. click here
Regulatory and enforcement correspondence The Statues and Regulations section deals with the Medical Examiner's authority and jurisdiction. click here
Account, voucher, contract information Nothing found.
Minutes, all proceedings Nothing found.
Frequently requested FOIA records There is a section linking to Frequently Requested FOIA Materials. click here
General index of records to be posted online Nothing found.

FOIA CONTACT Information

Sharlene Williams
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
1910 Massachusetts Avenue, SE
Building #27
Washington, DC 20003
Phone: (202) 698-9005
Fax: (202) 698-9101
Email: sharlene.williams@dc.gov



Primary research for this audit was conducted by Howard University journalism students LeeSandra Alexandre and Melissa Noel while interning at the Workshop. The project was edited by Pete Weitzel, who is a board member at the DCOGC and a former managing editor of the Miami Herald. FOIA contact information is from DCOGC.