Public Disclosure Legal Log (2014-07) (Tacoma Police Department)
| Submitted | July 14, 2014 |
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Communications
From: Phil Mocek
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to RCW Ch. 42.56 (Public Records Act), I hereby request the following records:
Public disclosure legal log (log of public records requests received by your agency, along with classification, time dedicated to processing each request, current status, final resolution, etc.)
If this record exists in electronic form, I request that you not create a new record for me (e.g., by printing your electronic record then scanning it to make a series of images of the printed data) but provide the electronic record itself in its native format.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Phil Mocek
From: Anderson, Lisa
Dear Mr. Mocek:
I am in receipt of your public disclosure request for the documents noted below, which has been assigned the above request number. The Tacoma Police Department does not maintain a legal log of public disclosure requests received for public records. General government public disclosure requests are logged and tracked in the City Clerk's Office.
To assist with your request I have attached is a query of public disclosure requests, from the time period of January 2014 through current, whereas the police department was noted to have responsive records. I have also separately attached the full breadth of two public disclosure request which was not captured in the excel spreadsheet cells. Please note: this report may not reflect all public disclosure requests for police department records, for the reason the responsible department field may not have been documented. Please review the spreadsheet and advise if I can answer any questions or concerns.
The time dedicated to processing public disclosure requests for the City of Tacoma is not documented. Therefore there are no responsive records. To further assist you I have however, provided the request opening date and closing date of the requests. I am uncertain what "classification" you are seeking and/or if additional information is needed. Please contact me with clarification to your request at your earliest convenience, to ensure your request is fulfilled in its entirety.
Thank you,
Lisa Anderson
Public Disclosure Assistant
(253) 591-5188
733 Market Street, Room 11
Tacoma, WA 98402
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From: Phil Mocek
Ms. Anderson:
Thank you for explaining that public records requests made of the Tacoma Police Department, as well as those made of other agencies and to which your agency holds responsive records, are logged and tracked by Tacoma City Clerk's Office.
On July 11, 2014, you sent via e-mail a subset of that log, helpfully filtered for records apparently to you related to your agency, and including columns of your choice. I know our Public Records Act does not require responding agencies to create records at my request. Please provide the entire, unfiltered, record from which you derived this subset, in its native electronic format.
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Phil Mocek
Ms. Anderson:
In my e-mail of a few minutes ago, I mistakenly wrote that you sent a subset of a record on July 11. This, of course, was a mistake on my part, as your e-mail was actually sent by you on July 21.
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Anderson, Lisa
Mr. Mocek;
In response to your email and request below, the information you requested "a log of public records requests received by your agency, along with classification, time dedicated to processing each request, current status, final resolution, etc." does not exist. However, to assist you to the full extent possible, the information you have requested does exist in an Access database. A query was created to capture what was believed to be the information you were seeking; requester name, date request was received, document request, status of request, date fulfilled, of request for police department records. As indicated in my July 21 email, this report may not reflect all public disclosure requests for police department records for 2014 , for the reason the responsible department field may not have been documented.
Clarification to your request for "the entire, unfiltered, record from which you derived this subset, in its native electronic format," is needed. Please advise if there is a specific timeframe for which you are seeking and if you are seeking the full unfiltered data related to the police department records requests which was recently provided.
Once clarification has been received, further review may be needed to determine how to capture the entire, unfiltered, data from the database you are requesting. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Regards,
Lisa Anderson
Public Disclosure Assistant
(253) 591-5188
733 Market Street, Room 11
Tacoma, WA 98402
From: Phil Mocek
Ms. Anderson:
Based on your communication, it sounds to me as if the native electronic format of this record is the database to which you referred. A recent backup of it would suffice.
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Anderson, Lisa
Mr. Mocek,
In response to your request for a recent backup of our public disclosure database, the record cannot be provided in its native format (Microsoft Access) as it contains some information which is exempt under RCW 42.56 and requires redactions. The City is unable to redact the necessary information and maintain native format. I have provided below a screenshot of all tables in the database which store the data queried to pull the City's initial response to your request. I have exported all of the tables, including all fields, and have attached all except for two tables, tblRequests and tblRequestCommunication. tblRequests contains approximately 7,500 rows of data that need to be reviewed for redactions as personal information that is exempt from disclosure is sometimes provided in the body of a request. I estimate I can have that reviewed and available for you in three weeks. tblRequestCommunication contains 10,500 rows of data that may also contain information that requires redactions. I estimate this will take an additional three weeks to review, and will be available by September 30, 2014.
The City initially responded with a custom query because it is the easiest way to pull data in a manner that associates information from each table into one line of information. If you would prefer a custom query or if you would like to narrow the timeframe for records, I will provide you with a revised response time.
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Regards,
Lisa Anderson
Public Disclosure Assistant
(253) 591-5188
733 Market Street, Room 11
Tacoma, WA 98402
From: Anderson, Lisa
Mr. Mocek,
I have completed the review of the tblRequests portion of to your request. Please find the attached spreadsheet. These records have been reviewed and redacted in accordance with the attached privilege log.
Additional time is needed to review the tblRequestCommunication spreadsheet. It is now anticipated records should be available by October 17, 2014. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Regards,
Lisa Anderson
Public Disclosure Assistant
(253) 591-5188
733 Market Street, Room 11
Tacoma, WA 98402
From: Anderson, Lisa
Mr. Mocek,
In response to your below public disclosure request, remaining responsive records at now available. Please find the attached tblRequestCommunication spreadsheet. With these records, your request is now considered closed. If you believe there are other records responsive, or this does not meet the scope of your request, please contact me at your earliest convenience.
Regards,
Lisa Anderson
Public Disclosure Assistant
City of Tacoma
733 Market Street, Room 11
Tacoma, WA 98402
(253) 591-5188
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