Georgia Police Equivalency of Training Certifications 2024-5-10

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Thank you
GA Post Staff
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Help Desk Team
Office is closed daily for lunch 12-1.

Hello, POST applications are not subject to open records. If you would
like a copy of the POST database then we charge $25.00 for that. Please
let me know if you want to proceed.

Thanks
Jill Dalon
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Helpdesk User <helpdesk@gapost.org>
Date: Mon, May 13, 2024 at 7:22 AM
Subject: Fwd: Georgia Open Records Act Request: Georgia Police Equivalency
of Training Certifications 2024-5-10
To: Jill Dalon <jdalon@gapost.org>, Terry McCormick <tmccormick@gapost.org>

One of the things they are requesting is in an officer's applications,
prior law enforcement training or military training, our applications and
the contents are not subject to open records. Wasn't sure who needed to
respond to them with that information.

-G

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Fri, May 10, 2024 at 5:29 PM
Subject: Georgia Open Records Act Request: Georgia Police Equivalency of
Training Certifications 2024-5-10
To: <helpdesk@gapost.org>

Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training Council
ORA Office
P.O. Box 349
Clarkdale, GA 30111

May 10, 2024

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a public records request made via MuckRock under the Georgia Open
Records Act, seeking records related to law enforcement officer
certification in this state.

This request is brought by Big Local News along with a collaboration of
news organizations, including the Invisible Institute. Big Local News is a
program of Stanford University’s Journalism and Democracy Initiative and
helps journalists collect, process and analyze public data.

We request any spreadsheets, logs, data, or other similar documents
maintained by GA POST sufficient to show the following information
regarding law enforcement officers who receive certifications through the
Equivalency of Training program.

Specifically, please provide as many of the following data points as are
maintained:

- Unique ID
- Name
- Previous state or military that the officer was previously certified by
- Date of Georgia certification

I believe all of this information to be maintained within the GA POST Data
Gateway, which GA POST releases significant other data from. There is no
exemption to the Georgia Open Records Act for this data.

In addition, the Act specifically defines public record to include
"computer based or generated information,” “data” and “data fields,”
O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(b)(2).

An agency’s use of electronic record-keeping systems “must not erode the
public’s right of access.” O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(f). In the case of
electronic records, data and data fields, the Act provides that agencies
shall produce electronic copies or data from data base fields that the
agency maintains using the computer programs that the agency has in its
possession. Id.

If your certification system contains data elements not listed above,
please include them in the response, provided they are releasable under the
law. On the other hand, we recognize some of the information we are asking
for may not be tracked by your system. If that is the case, we are willing
to accept as many of the data elements as your agency maintains. If some
records are more readily available, we are happy to receive partial
information as soon as possible while the remaining request is processed.

In addition to the data elements listed, we request documentation necessary
to understand and interpret the data, including but not limited to record
layouts, data dictionaries, code sheets, lookup tables, etc.

Our preference is to receive structured data provided in a machine-readable
text file, such as delimited or fixed-width formats. We can also handle a
variety of other data formats including SQL databases, Excel workbooks and
MS Access. If there are additional formats your agency would prefer to
provide, please let us know.

We are seeking this information as a news media organization on a matter of
public interest concerning the conduct of government. As such, we ask for a
waiver of all fees, if allowed under state law. If fees are necessary to
reimburse the agency for actual costs, we agree to pay up to $100. If costs
exceed that amount, please let us know before fulfilling the request.

Please send clarifications and questions via electronic communication at
any time. Thank you very much for your time and attention to this request.

Sam Stecklow
Invisible Institute

View request history, upload responsive documents, and report problems here:
https://www.muckrock.com/

If prompted for a passcode, please enter:
••••••••

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com

PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS
For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 163529
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115

PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is
being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share,
and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed
(i.e., with the requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the
department number) requests might be returned as undeliverable.
--
Help Desk Team
Office is closed daily for lunch 12-1.

I have attached an excel spreadsheet that shows the requested information
Officer number, Name, and date certified under the EOT program. The system
does not track the state or military branch they came from, to do that
would be both labor and time consuming because someone would have to back
through 447 applications.

Director McCormick
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*Terry McCormick, Certification & Training Director*

*Georgia POST Council*

*PO Box 349*

*Clarkdale, Ga. 30011*

*770-732-5788*