Masked LEOs (Houston Police Department)

Dear Emma North-Best:
Thank you for your interest in public records of Houston Police Department. Your request has been received and is being processed in accordance with Chapter 552 of Texas Government Code, the Public Information Act. Your request was received in this office on 9/15/2021 and given the reference number P018415-091521 for tracking purposes. Records Requested: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1. Policies, including implementation, termination and expiration notices, mentioning or discussing mask mandates or requirements for employees.

2. Reports regarding alleged violations of or non-compliance with mask mandates or requirements.

3. Records documenting any disciplinary actions taken regarding Item #2.

4. Emails, letters, memos and other written or memorialized discussions with unions or employee representatives regarding actual or proposed mask mandates or requirements (such as those requested in Item #1).

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emma North-Best

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
Your request will be forwarded to the relevant Houston Police Department department(s) to locate the information you seek and to determine the volume and any costs associated with satisfying your request. You will be contacted about the availability and/or provided with copies of the records in question. PLEASE NOTE: The Chapter 552 of Texas Government Code, the Public Information Act does not require a governmental body to create new information, to do legal research, or to answer questions.

You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Again, thank you for using the Houston Public Information Request Center.
Houston Police Department

--- Please respond above this line ---

RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of September 15, 2021, Reference # P018415-091521
Dear Emma North-Best,
The Houston Police Department received a public information request from you on September 15, 2021. Your request mentioned:
“To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1. Policies, including implementation, termination and expiration notices, mentioning or discussing mask mandates or requirements for employees.

2. Reports regarding alleged violations of or non-compliance with mask mandates or requirements.

3. Records documenting any disciplinary actions taken regarding Item #2.

4. Emails, letters, memos and other written or memorialized discussions with unions or employee representatives regarding actual or proposed mask mandates or requirements (such as those requested in Item #1).

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emma North-Best

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
This letter is to clarify what information that you are seeking from the Houston Police Department .
The Houston Police Department (HPD) has done a cursory review of the information you are seeking under the TPIA. Your request as written is very broad; therefore, we will need for you to clarify it.
We will need a date range for the requested information for all 4 requested items.
Please note:
For Item #1 - The Houston Police Department follows the policies that are mandated by the City of Houston for all city departments.  This information will be releasable, we just need the date range for the information requested.
For Item #2: We are verifying if reports exist for violations/non-compliance.  If a report does exist, we'd need a date range for the requested information.
For Item #3: This information is dependant upon if a report exists.  If #2 exists, then we will be able to give out the publically releasable information for #3.
For Item #4: Please note that our department is unable to perform global searches on e-mails. As such, you will need to provide specific name(s) of employee e-mails to search and specific search terms would need to be provided. Additionally, our department has multiple union groups.  You will need to provide the names of the union groups that you are seeking the information for/from, the names of those union members to search, and the specified search terms to use.  Again, any search requires a date range to search the requested information.
Once those clarifications are sent in, we can then provide you with the estimated costs associated with  your request and the estimated timeframe needed to produce the records requested.  Our department is allowed to charge for the requested information using the Texas Attorney General's Charge Schedule Section 70.10.
Please note that Section 552.222(d) of the Texas Government Code authorizes the Department to consider your public information request withdrawn as a matter of law if you do not respond in writing to this request for clarification within 61 days from the date of this correspondence.
You may reply to this email to clarify your request.
Upon receipt of your clarification, the Houston Police Department will further respond to your Public Information Act Request as required by law, including providing you with an estimate of costs associated with producing the requested records.  Please note that any request that is estimated to exceed $40 but are less than $100 will require written approval from the requestor prior to any work being done.  Similarly, requests that are estimated to exceed $100 will require written approval and a deposit of 50% of the estimated costs before any work is done.
If you have any questions, please contact Open Records at 713-308-9186.  Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Melissa Saldivar Hamilton
Administrative Assistant
Houston Police Department (HPD)
Office of Planning & Data Governance
Open Records Unit