The Police Department has settled a lawsuit over its compliance with the state Freedom of Information law by agreeing to accept and handle record requests by email and to create a written description of its procedures for doing so.

The department’s approach to transparency has been under public scrutiny, and the settlement ends a suit filed last year in State Supreme Court by a man who had made a half-dozen requests for police records related to the use of a powerful sound cannon known as a Long Range Acoustic Device.

The man, Keegan Stephan, said in the suit that the department failed to justify withholding the records he requested and that a “policy and practice” not to accept or respond to Freedom of Information requests by email violated a 2006 provision of New York State law. Mr. Stephan also argued that by not allowing email requests, the police had increased “the time, effort, and expense involved” in obtaining records.

Under the terms of the settlement, which was approved by a judge on Thursday, the Police Department denied any “liability or wrongdoing” but agreed to turn over to Mr. Stephan, a Cardozo Law School student, material it had previously withheld. That includes an instructor guide, lesson plan and training document related to the sound cannons; charts listing times when the devices were deployed or requested from 2011 to 2014; and email communications regarding the devices.