Search Warrant Data (Colorado Bureau of Investigation)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Colorado Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

For all search warrants, applications for search warrants, cancellations, and authorization for search warrants between 2012 to the date of processing this request, please provide the following points of record for each:

Full Name of requester
If arrest, arrest ID (eg some cities/states use, "Incident Report")
Reason(s) for search warrant (typically either hand-written, or checkboxes)
Badge ID (or similar) of requester
District/Unit
Name of Judge
Name of approving officer
Whether an Arrest happened
Requested location of search warrant
Location of search warrant execution
Type of search warrant
Statements used to justify search warrant
Time and date when search warrant was submitted for approval
Time and date when search warrant was executed
Whether anything was seized
Whether anything was found
License plate of vehicle (if relevant)
Race of person for search warrant
Age of person for search warrant
State of person for search warrant
Whether an informant was involved
Method of contact with informant leading to search warrant (eg, phone call, mail, fax, email, etc)
Description of person search warrant executed on
Legal code of violation
Description of violation
Date of violation
If search warrant related to debt: name of company debt is owed to, amount owed
Whether FBI involved
ID associated with FBI document (eg, IR #)
Whether search warrant was cancelled
Whether contraband found
Whether narcotics found

The records responsive to this request are likely available in a database, or in some query-able format. If your department or agency does not have direct access to the records, please raise to the respective department that can run queries directly (eg, through SQL).

Should your agency not have all of the requested records within a single record or document, please provide me the relevant documents that do, even if that requires more than one class of document. Should some of the records be unavailable, please let me know ahead of time so that we can narrow the request accordingly.

As the records responsive to this request are imperative for understanding how search warrants are executed, I ask that the public interest of these records be evaluated to the extent that the public's interest outweighs this request's burden. To add, this request is being sent to the largest city of every state and will be collated together to create a comprehensive map of search warrants throughout the US. As such, the records are not only important for understanding search warrants at a local level, but also at a national and state-wide level.

Please ensure that provided documents comply with Section 508, as these records will be shared with members of the public who are covered under the ADA. This guide should be helpful: https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/making-files-accessible/checklist/pdf/index.html

If this request was sent to the wrong department or agency, please let me know so that I can send to the correct place.

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 3 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Lucy Parsons Labs

Thank you for your response. Despite the application used to insert records into not having broad search capabilities, the requested records still ought to exist within a database that's queryable in a back end, as is the case with a vast majority of software used by government bodies. Could you please raise this request to your technical staff, who should have the capabilities to extract the requested information?

Thank you for your response. The provided case law does not seem to apply here. Please review Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-72-203(3.5)(a) (2017), as it is fairly explicit in what is required with requests for data. Two excerpts:

(3.5) (a) Except as otherwise required by subsection (3.5)(b) of this section:
(I) If a public record is stored in a digital format that is neither searchable nor sortable, the custodian shall provide a copy of the public record in a digital format.
(II) If a public record is stored in a digital format that is searchable but not sortable, the custodian shall provide a copy of the public record in a searchable format.
(III) If a public record is stored in a digital format that is sortable, the custodian shall provide a copy of the public record in a sortable format.

Further down:
(d) Altering an existing public record, or excising fields of information pursuant to this subsection (3.5) to remove information that the custodian is either required or permitted to withhold, does not constitute the creation of a new public record.

I look forward to receiving the requested records ASAP. Please ensure that the records are provided within an excel spreadsheet. Thank you and regards.