Records request from BuzzFeed News: Incident reports for crimes of aggravated assault

Mr. Aldhous,

The Kenosha Police Department in Kenosha, WI is in receipt of your records request for aggravated assault reports from 2016. Please see the attached response letter for details. In summary, the Kenosha Police Department would require an initial prepayment of $500 to begin the location and reproduction of those records.

Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Lt. Tim Schaal
Kenosha Police Department
PIO / Professional Standards
262-605-5238

Kenosha Police Department
ORA Office
1000 55th Street
Kenosha, WI 53140

February 27, 2018

This is a follow up to a previous request:

Attention: Lt Tim Schaal

Dear Tim,

I just left a message on your voicemail. Given your response on costs, I think the most efficient way forward for both of us would be for me to request a small initial sample of reports (say, the first one reported in each of the months from Jan to May 2016) to be able to review whether they contain information that would be useful for our purposes.

Then I'll be in a position to decide whether to proceed with the full request. Shall we discuss by phone how to proceed?

My contact numbers are below.

Best wishes,

--
Peter Aldhous, PhD
Science reporter | BuzzFeed News
tel: 415 800 3471
cell: 415 503 7323
peter.aldhous@buzzfeed.com
@paldhous
www.peteraldhous.com

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For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 48734
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

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.

---

On Feb. 16, 2018:
Mr. Aldhous,

The Kenosha Police Department in Kenosha, WI is in receipt of your records request for aggravated assault reports from 2016. Please see the attached response letter for details. In summary, the Kenosha Police Department would require an initial prepayment of $500 to begin the location and reproduction of those records.

Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Lt. Tim Schaal
Kenosha Police Department
PIO / Professional Standards
262-605-5238
---

On Feb. 12, 2018:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Wisconsin's Open Records act, I hereby request the following records:

Police incident or arrest reports for all crimes of aggravated assault recorded in 2016 (including descriptions of the incident).

Because aggregated statistics on these crimes are reported annually to the FBI under the Uniform Crime Reporting program by your agency, I believe you retain these records.

This request is made as part of the Documenting Hate Project, a collaboration involving dozens of news organizations including BuzzFeed News, led by ProPublica. Coverage from the project is compiled at https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/hatecrimes#hatecrime-coverage.

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,

Peter Aldhous

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/accounts/agency_login/kenosha-wisconsin-city-of-kenosha-police-department-1000-55th-street-kenosha-wi-53140-7039/records-request-from-buzzfeed-news-incident-reports-for-crimes-of-aggravated-assault-48734/?email=tas496%40kenoshapolice.com&uuid-login=3b250c7a-7bf9-402f-99a2-d251bf8cbe2c#agency-reply
Is this email coming to the wrong contact? Something else wrong? Use the above link to let us know.

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 48734
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

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.

Mr. Aldhous,

I've attached a response letter above, but in short, the Kenosha Police Department has identified 5 aggravated assault records as we spoke about on the phone. These reports are in paper format, and to reproduce the 203 pages involved would result in a charge of $50.75. If you would like to continue the request, please see the attachment for details on prepayment and shipping address.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Lt. Tim Schaal
Kenosha Police Department
262-605-5219

Schaal, Timothy would like to recall the message, "Open Records Request: Records request from BuzzFeed News: Incident reports for crimes of aggravated assault".

Mr. Aldhous,

I sent an email to you this morning regarding the Kenosha Police Records request we spoke about on the phone. Please disregard that email and attachment. Because our records department (Kenosha Joint Services) is compiling the reports, any charges associated with the 5 reports should be prepaid to them. Per our records supervisor, the total page count on the 5 identified reports totals 203 pages, which at $.25 per page would total $50.75 in reproduction costs. With handling charges ($2.78) and shipping (aprox. $7.00), the total prepay required for Joint Services records to proceed is $60.53.

This payment can be made to "Kenosha Joint Services" as they are completing the request. I've cc'd our records supervisor, Maureen Anderson, in on this email and her contact information is below. Please feel free to contact Maureen Anderson with questions.

Thank you,

Lt. Tim Schaal
Kenosha Police Department
262-605-5238

Maureen Anderson
Kenosha Joint Services - Records Division
262-605-5023
mma247@kenoshajs.org

A copy of documents responsive to the request.