Connecticut police data (Manchester Town Clerk)

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Dear Muckrock:

I am in receipt of your request to Joseph V. Camposeo, Town Clerk, dated July 15, 2019. I will need some time to review your request with our police department and once I have, I will let you know of the response time that will be necessary to respond to your requests.

Please note that certain of your requests involve research or compilation of information and the FOIA does not require governmental agencies to undertake research or compile information, only to provide copies of exiting documents and files.

I will contact you after I have had a chance to review your requests with the police department.

Tim

Timothy P. O'Neil
Administrative Staff Attorney
Town of Manchester
41 Center Street
P.O. Box 191
Manchester, CT 06045-0191
Tel. No. 860-647-3132

To Whom It May Concern:

I have a meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 8th with police records personnel to determine which records we have that are responsive to your request. The delay has been due to the vacations of the people involved, including myself.

Tim

Timothy P. O'Neil
Administrative Staff Attorney
Town of Manchester
41 Center Street
P.O. Box 191
Manchester, CT 06045-0191
Tel. No. 860-647-3132

To Whom It May Concern at Muckrock.com:

Please note the following in response to your Freedom of Information request:

1. The total number of police use of force incidents, broken down by type of force used, between 2013-2018 (separated by year) -

TOTAL is 389; we do not have the specific type of force used; that would require research all the files, which we are not required to do by FOIA. Breakdown of the 389 by year is as follows:

a. 2013 - 69;

b. 2014 - 77;

c. 2015 - 85;

d. 2016 - 52;

e. 2017 - 56; and

f. 2018 - 50.

2. The total number of people that police used force against, between 2013-2018 (separated by year) - as stated above there are 389 incidents, broken down by year as shown above. We do not have the total number of people involved as a single incident may have involved multiple people and that would require researching all the files, which again we are not required to do under the FOIA.

3. A copy of all complaints reported by civilians against police between 2013-2018 - please note that providing you with copies of these complaints will require pre-payment for the copies at .50 cents per page, which we will not waive. Also, the copies will need to be redacted before releasing them to you. Finally, if the complaints are unsubstantiated, they will not be released to you. Please note the following breakdown by year:

a. 2013 - 13;

b. 2014 - 13;

c. 2015 - 19;

d. 2016 - 12;

e. 2017 - 12; and

f. 2018 - 9.

4. A copy of any documents indicating whether the civilian complaints identified in request #3 were sustained - again, same comments as in the response to request #3 regarding cost of copies, pre-payment and redactions. Please note the following breakdown by year:

a. 2013 - 1;

b. 2014 - 9;

c. 2015 - 0;

d. 2016 - 0;

e. 2017 - 0; and

f. 2018 - 0.

5. The policy manual of the police department - please note the policy manual of the police department changes from year to year and consists of hundreds, if not thousands of pages and at the cost of .50 cents per page is considerable. We would need prepayment before providing you with copies. Also, if you want a specific year's policy manual, please indicate so and if you want to limit the specific policy or policies you are looking for, please note that as well.

6. The current union contract between the city and any police unions or police associations - please note that these are available online on the Town of Manchester's website, under Human Resources.

7. Please note that between 2013 and 2018, the Manchester police force was involved in two shooting incidents; one in 2013 and one in 2015. In both incidents, the shots fired by the Manchester police were misses. The incident in 2015 involved assisting the state police force in a Town of Bolton incident, so the case report would be in the records of the Connecticut State Police. The 2013 incident occurred in Manchester and the case report is very lengthy, so the cost for a copy would be considerable and will also involve redactions.

8. The only shooting incident involving death or injury was the 2015 incident in the Town of Bolton, which resulted in a fatality. The fatal shots were by the state police and not the Manchester police.

Please review the above response and let me know if you want the copies referred to in the response and I will provide you with the estimated cost.

Tim

Timothy P. O'Neil
Administrative Staff Attorney
Town of Manchester
41 Center Street
P.O. Box 191
Manchester, CT 06045-0191
Tel. No. 860-647-3132