Police department misconduct allegations and disciplinary proceedings
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | June 17, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Beryl Lipton
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
All materials and records describing and sufficient to show/disclose all allegations of misconduct made and all disciplinary proceedings taken against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency.
As described in the New York Freedom of Information Law, a record is "any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or for an agency or the state legislature, in any physical form whatsoever including, but not limited to, reports, statements, examinations, memoranda, opinions, folders, files, books, manuals, pamphlets, forms, papers, designs, drawings, maps, photos, letters, microfilms, computer tapes or discs, rules, regulations or codes." Records kept in a digital or electronic form are also records, would be responsive to this request, and should be provided.
These records are typically required to be retained under the New York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1 (http://www.archives.nysed.gov/records/retention_mu-1), including, but not limited to, item no. 365, which includes: "Investigative records and disciplinary proceedings, including but not limited to statement of charge, transcript of hearing, notice of decision, letter of termination or resignation, letter of reinstatement, record of appeal procedure, and correspondence." While materials under that schedule have a set retention of 3 years after the final decision rendered, this request and materials responsive to it include *all* records held in the possession of any office or individual employed or formerly employed by this policing agency, including those kept off-site, in digital form, and in personnel files.
Please note that any failure to provide all potentially-responsive materials and/or the destruction of materials potentially responsive to this request would be a violation of the spirit of the New York Freedom of Information Law, as well as unlawful under the New York FOIL and the terms of the attached litigation hold notice.
Materials responsive to this request include — but are not limited to — all complaints, reports, records of discipline and penalties, aggregate collections of complaint and disciplinary materials (spreadsheets, databases), investigatory materials, relevant related correspondence, photographs, video, other related evidence, proof of discipline or fulfillment of penalties, and all personnel materials (including those used in promotion, contract, and other employment negotiations and considerations) that reference or utilize misconduct allegations or disciplinary materials of any sort.
Materials responsive to this request include all complaints— internal, external, and civilian — and include records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident/complaint: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the investigation, investigatory materials, the disposition of the case, and any subsequent materials related to the execution of any resultant discipline. Responsive materials include all complaints and allegations against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency, regardless of whether that complaint or allegation resulted in any investigation or disciplinary action.
Responsive materials also include all records of use of force by officers, including records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the use of force, subsequent investigatory materials related to the use of force, the disposition of any investigation into the incident, and any subsequent materials related to the use of force.
Please provide materials on a rolling basis, beginning with materials created during the following timeframes:
• January 1, 2010 - June 15, 2020
• January 1, 2000 - January 1, 2010
• January 1, 1990 - January 1, 2000
• January 1, 1980 - January 1, 1990
• January 1, 1970 - January 1, 1980
Pursuant to NYCRR Section 1401.5(c)(1), should any of this request be unclear or lack sufficient description for your office, please provide direction that would enable this requester to request records reasonably described. Please also note that the New York FOIL states: "An agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the request is voluminous or that locating or reviewing the requested records or providing the requested copies is burdensome because the agency lacks sufficient staffing or on any other basis if the agency may engage an outside professional service to provide copying, programming or other services required to provide the copy...." Please also see FOIL AO 19671, an Advisory Opinion from the Committee on Open Government [https://docs.dos.ny.gov/coog/ftext/f19671.htm].
If your office has questions about this request or would like to discuss it for any reason, please contact this requester via the contact email address provided and feel free to follow up by phone: 617-299-1832. This request is being submitted to each policing agency in New York as part of a collaborative project led by MuckRock and involving multiple other educational and journalistic partners and participants. For this reason, over the lifetime of this request, your agency may interface with individuals not listed on this initial communication.
This request is being made in the public interest by a news organization as part of non-profit (not commercial) journalistic work and research on behalf of the public. 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 and as part of the necessary negotiations for successful processing. As far as it is possible, please fulfill elements of this request 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,
Beryl Lipton
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 17, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Geneva City Police Department
Beryl,
I received your FOIL request and am letting you know that we need more time to collect the information. I am requesting up to 20 additional business days to put together all of the information to complete the request. If we have the response prior to 20 business days, I will certainly get it to you sooner.
Thank you,
Lori
Lori Guinan
Geneva City Clerk
47 Castle Street
Geneva, NY 14456
Phone: (315) 828-6561
Fax: (315) 789-0604
[cid:image002.png@01D64E25.D96F8810]
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From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 17, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Geneva City Police Department
First, I would like to apologize for not getting back to you sooner that I received your FOIL request dated 6/17/20.
I am in receipt of your FOIL requests asking for disciplinary/misconduct material on our officers and use of force by officers. Due to the availability of staff to produce your reports (my counterpart is on furlough due to the Corona Virus), the amount of time it will take to gather the information and the scope of this request, we will need more than the 20 day turnaround time you were quoted. I anticipate it will take us 90 days to complete. I am not able to guarantee this time, if we are able to complete it sooner, I will let you know, but please be advised if I need more time, I will also let you know. I appreciate your patience!
Susan
Admin. Aide
Geneva Police Dept
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 17, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Geneva City Police Department
I don’t have an exact date, but your FOIL is being worked on.
Susan
Geneva PD
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 17, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Geneva City Police Department
I am currently working on the Use of Force part of your FOIL request. I have all the paperwork printed out (as you can see in my attached photo) and am now going through them redacting information. I will let you know as soon as I have them completed. The rest of your FOIL request (complaints, reports, discipline, penalties, etc) is being handled by our Personnel Dept and they have working on that part.
Thanks!
Susan
Geneva PD
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20200821_084537
From: Geneva City Police Department
Did they receive a letter stating it would be 11/7 or later? I know the attorney had sent a draft letter to use for responses past 20 days that we could use—let me know if that was used or if need a copy.
Thanks
Jen
Jennifer L. Slywka
Assistant to the City Manager/Human Resource Director
City of Geneva
47 Castle Street, 2nd Floor
Geneva, NY 14456
315-789-4369
315-789-8373(Fax)
jslywka@geneva.ny.us<mailto:jslywka@geneva.ny.us>
From: Geneva City Police Department
They got a letter stating it would be done in 90 days – I sent a copy of that to you with the request of all the FOIL letter responses – It started out: First, I would like to apologize…..
Susan
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello,
Thank you so much for your messages. I've noted that it may take until October 20. Thank you so much for your time and help.
All the best,
Beryl
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 17, 2020. You previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 20, 2020. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Geneva City Police Department
The Use of Force is complete – it is just waiting on a legal review by the City of Geneva’s attorneys. I will let you know as soon as that is complete.
Susan
Geneva PD
From: Geneva City Police Department
This is an update on your FOIL requests concerning complaints/disciplinary actions/use of force on Geneva Police Department officers. We are still compiling this information. As these files are huge, I am reaching out to you to find out how you want to receive this information:
-You can create an on-line drop box
-drop off/mail in a thumb drive to Jennifer Slywka, 47 Castle St, Geneva, NY 14456 (with a self-addressed, stamped envelope if we are returning by mail)
-pick up/mail paper copies at $.25/page (unknown # of pages at this time)
-Do you want it as each Officer is completed or as a group?
Thanks!
Susan
Geneva PD
From: Geneva City Police Department
Hello! I haven't heard back from you concerning your FOIL request and how you would like to receive it. Would you please let me know.
Thanks!
Susan
Geneva PD
From: Beryl Lipton
Hi there,
I apologize for having missed your message. The best way for me to receive these records would be via the "Upload" link at the bottom of this email, which will take you to a Dropbox-like option. Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing that.
Thanks so much for your help.
Best,
Beryl
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 17, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 20, 2020. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 17, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 20, 2020. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
Hello —
Could you please provide the requested records via the dropbox link below?
Thank you for your time and help.
From: Geneva City Police Department
City of Geneva- Please see attached letter and files noted in letter
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Geneva City Police Department
City of Geneva- see attached letter and uploaded files
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Geneva City Police Department
Please see attached concerning your FOIL request.
Thanks!
Susan
Geneva PD
From: Geneva City Police Department
See attached active employees per FOIL request.
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Geneva City Police Department
Please see attached, concerning your FOIL request.
Thanks!
Susan
Geneva PD
From: Geneva City Police Department
City of Geneva- see attached letter.
Files
pages
There are too many files to display on the request page. See all files .