Lexington, KY PD Citizen Complaints

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Kentucky Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

We are Economics Professors in the College of Business at Ferris State University, and are engaged in an empirical research project on police behavior and citizen complaints. This project requires us to request data from your department. If you have questions about this request or suggestions, we 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. How many officer-involved-shootings were there per year for the last 10 years in your department? 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 our research, so we would like to emphasize, if you have questions about my request or suggestions, we 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 look forward to receiving your response to this request within 3 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Hello,

MuckRock is a FOIA service that helps file FOIAs for individuals. We are simply professors working on a researching project and not trying to place an undue burden on the department. To show good faith and the demonstrate the sincerity of our request, I have sent a check for $100 to help offset any costs/burdens that the department faces as a result of our request.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Respectfully, Alex Cartwright

To Whom It May Concern:

Please find enclosed a check for $100.00 to satisfy the fee associated with the attached public records request.

Thank you.

Hello, Thank you for this response. Your letter mentions a 'spreadsheet' which I do not see attached here. Can you please re-send a copy of it.

Respectfully,
Alex Cartwright

Hello,

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 9, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I sent a check to your department of $100 for this request. Can you please provide an update?

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I am writing to follow up on my original request made on 8/9/17

Thank you very much for providing the information we requested. I am writing to ask for some clarification regarding the data on officer-involved shootings you provided us with. What constitutes an officer-involved shooting in your department? Is "weapons discharge" the same as OIS? For example, some departments do not count misses while others count all discharges; some include shots at animals. Other departments include intentional and accidental shootings; others do not. Some include all discharges and some exclude missed shots. Please explain to us how your department classifies the OIS included in the numbers you sent to us.

Very Respectfully, Alex Cartwright

Hi,

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

Sincerely,
Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer