Emory University Demonstration - April 25, 2024 (Georgia State Patrol)

Your request has been submitted, your request number is OTHE22747524.

You can check your request status by going to http://gadps-eports.net and entering your request number in the search bar.

You will receive an email once your request has been completed.

Here is the DPS Charging Chart for your reference https://dps.georgia.gov/charging-fees-open-records-requests

Thank you
Open Records Unit
Georgia Department of Public Safety

Good Day,

We are in receipt of your open records request. DPS will seek reimbursement for reasonable fees pursuant to our charging chart and consistent with Georgia law. For fee information, please see O.C.G.A. §50-18-71. You may review our charging chart for additional records https://dps.georgia.gov/charging-fees-open-records-requests.<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fdps.georgia.gov%2fcharging-fees-open-records-requests.%26nbsp%3b&c=E,1,vag6JEC44vf8iSa7qvUTYYBvm4OxY-huxfbRwiBcnOFERTT0Kr7CEBJ5msLdvu60qRF1gvqhruH0OHY0GWlgs0qRGESMIqB5mZDWCa3M2GZPLZ0hLg,,&typo=1&ancr_add=1> If the cost is likely to exceed $25.00, we will get confirmation of your intent to pay before we proceed. Please see O.C.G.A. §50-18-71(d).

Please note that when an arrest is made, DPS cannot release criminal evidence such as dashcam video unless we are provided with a disposition sheet showing that charges are no longer pending, or authorization from the designated prosecutor for release, or a Judge's Court Order. Please refer to O.C.G.A. 50-18-72(a)(4). We have attached a sample form for your convenience.
To determine whether there is any responsive DPS email correspondence regarding "any communications to or from the Emory University administration, staff, or security officials on or after April 1, 2024" and "any communications to or from any elected official (including Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, any member of the Georgia legislature, or any Member of Congress) or any member of the staff (such as aides, secretaries, or assistants) of an elected official concerning Emory University or the April 25, 2024 demonstration at Emory University," a query can be conducted with very specific parameters, per O.C.G.A. §50-18-71(g), to wit:

Requests to inspect or copy electronic messages, whether in the form of e-mail, text message, or other format, should contain information about the messages that is reasonably calculated to allow the recipient of the request to locate the messages sought, including, if known, the name, title, or office of the specific person or persons whose electronic messages are sought and, to the extent possible, the specific data bases to be searched for such messages.

Please know that DPS uses Barracuda, a platform designed and intended for "security" and not a "search" platform. To that end, Barracuda captures individual words. It does not capture phrases.

The email search(es) will be conducted by an IT specialist with the credentials and ability to perform such a search on our protected system. The specialist will enter your defined queries or attempt to determine such queries from the information you have provided (with the latter taking more time), monitor the processes for any interruption(s) that require a restart, download the captured returns, and then convert them to a readable format. The hourly rate for the fulltime, credentialled specialist is $73.99 per hour, with the first 15 minutes free. We have found that well-defined parameters from a requestor generally result in less time (approximately 30 minutes). However, in circumstances of poorly defined parameters, we have discovered that there may be many hits and lots of attachments which are often irrelevant to the specified request, and likewise require more time to review for redactions of personal information and protected materials. The remaining production tasks of review and redacting captured emails has a reimbursement rate of a designated employee who is credentialled to review emails ($25 per hour), with the general ability to review 100 pages per hour, depending upon the type of materials requiring the review. After the query, we will provide any available, releasable records.

Please note that DPS has over 1,200 officers and even more civilian staff. The way your search is currently worded, every employee email that contains the word "staff" for example, will be pulled. To avoid unnecessary expense and emails that may not be relevant, please consider specifying your request and/or narrowing your parameters. Lastly, if you confirm your intent to pay for the estimate, you're required to pay for the query time even if there are no responsive emails or if you choose not to pay for individual emails.

Please let us know if you want to request a query estimate and specify your parameters so we may contact our IT specialist. The remainder of your request for incident reports is in progress. We anticipate providing a copy of any available, releasable records within two weeks.

Thank you,

Nkenge Green
Attorney Manager, Open Records Unit
Legal Division, Suite 440
Georgia Department of Public Safety
959 United Avenue SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30316
Phone: 404-624-7591
Fax: 404-624-7529
ngreen@gsp.net<mailto:ngreen@gsp.net>

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https://eports.gamccd.net/orportal

Good Afternoon,

Your request for responsive incident reports is complete, please see attached. The records have been redacted according to O.C.G.A. §50-18-72(a)(20). The amount due is $6.00. To pay via credit or with debit card please use our EPORTs system (www.gadps-eports.net<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.gadps-eports.net&c=E,1,PvZb2wHcg8u6zq6BgalMXK_px7DNr3hDP9XgTGYALMl82l-kaRIRvo5r8pGyiSpbUIX4Ma7yJyLrMbYFMdNru3DOwYv0XhNz1I1QTS0FatveqS_C7RxM7A,,&typo=1>) and reference Request # OTHE22747524. Please let us know if you prefer to pay via check and we will prepare an invoice.

You may receive an email from our online system “EPORTS” that your request has been completed. You may use the link provided to pay via credit or with debit card. Please note that there are no records to download, the records have been attached to this email. Please disregard any error message.

Note:

• Payment must be received within two weeks in lieu of applicable statutory penalties. See O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(d).

• The charges provided are not copy fees. The charges provided constitute a sum which is lower than the pro-rated salary for search, retrieval, review, redaction and production by each of the lowest paid full-time employees who, in the reasonable discretion of the Department, has the necessary skill and training to locate and provide responsive documents in each category listed. See O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(c)(1).

• The charges provided constitute an automatic 15-minute reduction in each category of fees, which assures that such flat-fees are well-below the statutory guideline.

Your email query estimate is in progress, we anticipate providing the estimate next week. We appreciate your patience.

Thank you,

Nkenge Green
Attorney Manager, Open Records Unit
Legal Division, Suite 440
Georgia Department of Public Safety
959 United Avenue SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30316
Phone: 404-624-7591
Fax: 404-624-7529
ngreen@gsp.net

https://eports.gamccd.net/orportal

Your request with the request number OTHE22747524 has been completed successfully!

Request Status: COMPLETE.

Request Status Notes: Records sent via email. There are no records to download, please disregard any error message. If paying online, please only click 'submit' one time. Thank you. .

The records have been redacted according to O.C.G.A. §50-18-72(a)(20). Please download the report within 90 days or a new request will have to be made.

To access your report and pay online, please click the link below and search by request number.
http://gadps-eports.net (http://gadps-eports.net)

For information regarding fees, please click here: https://dps.georgia.gov/charging-fees-open-records-requests (https://dps.georgia.gov/charging-fees-open-records-requests)

Thank you.
Open Records Unit
Georgia Department of Public Safety

Good Afternoon,

Your request is in progress. We contacted our IT specialist who estimates that it will take one hour and fifteen minutes to perform the search and convert the emails to PDF. Thus, the cost of the query time is a minimum of $73.99. The production tasks for to redact the individual emails are an additional ($25 per hour), with the general ability to review 100 pages per hour. As mentioned previously, DPS has 1,200 officers with email addresses and even more civilian staff. The way your query is currently worded, it will likely pull every employee email that contains the word "staff", ”communication” or “April” for example. To avoid unnecessary expense and emails that may not be relevant, please consider specifying your request to specific employees and/or narrowing your parameters. Lastly, if you confirm your intent to pay $73.99 for the time the query will take, you will be required to pay for it even if the emails are not relevant or if you choose not to pay for individual emails. If you want to proceed with your query as it is, please let us know and confirm your intent to pay $73.99 for the query time. Prepayment will be required if the cost exceeds $500.00 pursuant to O.C.G.A. §50-18-71(d).

If we do not hear from you within two weeks, this request will be closed.
Nkenge Green
Attorney Manager, Open Records Unit
Legal Division, Suite 440
Georgia Department of Public Safety
959 United Avenue SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30316
Phone: 404-624-7591
Fax: 404-624-7529
ngreen@gsp.net

https://eports.gamccd.net/orportal

Good Morning,

The query will still take a minimum of one hour ($73.99).

Thank you,

Nkenge Green
Attorney Manager, Open Records Unit
Legal Division, Suite 440
Georgia Department of Public Safety
959 United Avenue SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30316
Phone: 404-624-7591
Fax: 404-624-7529
ngreen@gsp.net

https://eports.gamccd.net/orportal

Good Afternoon,

This request will be closed.

Thank you,

Nkenge Green