Fargo, ND, PD Citizen Complaints

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to North Dakota Constitution, Article XI, Section 6, and the North Dakota Open Records Statute, N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18(1), I hereby request the following records:

I am an Economics Professor in the College of Business at Ferris State University, and I am engaged in an empirical research project on police behavior and citizen complaints. This project requires me to request data from your department. If you have questions about my request or suggestions, I would be happy to discuss them with you.

1. What is the total number of citizen complaints (allegations of misconduct) made against your department’s officers annually for the last 10 years? If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated).

2. What is the total number of complaints police officers made against their peer officers in department annually for the last 10 years? If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated).

3. What is the total number of calls for service your department received annually for the past 10 years? If your department logs calls for service in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

4. What is the annual number of officers involved in shootings in your department for the past 10 years? Any documentation or reports that detail the annual number of officer-involved shootings in your department for the past 10 years would be sufficient.

Please include documentation regarding how many of these officer-involved shootings involved disciplinary action. (Please list officer firearm discharge directed at a person separately from a shooting involving an animal and separately from accidental firearm discharges).

Please include the number of officer-involved shootings resulting in discipline.

5. Which of the above data are published publicly? Please provide a link to any and all publicly available reports containing the data above.

Collecting this information is very important to my research, so I would like to emphasize, if you have questions about my request or suggestions, I would be happy to discuss them with you.

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 would request your response within ten (10) business days.

Sincerely,

Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Hello Ms. Morris,

Thank you for the prompt response to my request. What, exactly, can a clarify for you? I am requesting any document that contains the data described in my request. Please let me know what specific questions you have so that I can clarify.

Please provide a fee estimate for my review.

Please omit item 3 from my request.

Respectfully, -Alex Cartwright

Hello Ms. Morris,

Thank you for this information. We do not have a budge to pay $1915 to the city of Fargo. I would like to amend my request in order to shorten it and, hopefully, reduce the fees.

1- What is the total number of external (citizen) complaints made against your department, annually. for 2007-2017? (For example, 24 in 2007, 28 in 2008 etc.)

2- What is the total number of internal (from within the department) complaints made in your department, annually for 2007-2017?

I hope that this request is easier to fill.
Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,
Alex Cartwright

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

The chart you sent lists "IA" cases by year. What does "IA" stand for?

Thank you.