Police Certification Data

This is a public records request made via MuckRock under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. This request is brought by Tom Nash, a citizen of Virginia, in coordination with and on behalf of Sam Stecklow, a journalist for the Invisible Institute.

We are seeking two categories of records:

(1) Records containing certain information about each certified officer, both current and inactive:
Please provide records that contain the below information for each law enforcement and corrections officer actively certified as of the date of this request.

If your system maintains historical records of previously certified law enforcement and corrections officers who are no longer active, please include records reflecting the below information for such officers as far back as possible.

We are seeking records containing the following data elements for each officer:
Officer unique ID number
POST or state certification ID number
Officer’s full name
Officer’s date of birth or, if not releasable, year of birth or current age
Officer’s city and/or zip code of residence
Officer’s last/current department or agency
Officer’s last/current department or agency start date
Officer’s last/current position and/or rank at that department or agency
Officer’s previous departments/agencies (employment history), with start and end dates
Officer’s positions and/or ranks at previous departments or agencies
Officer’s original date of certification
Current status of certification (active, lapsed, expired, suspended, etc.)
Last action taken on certification
Date of last action on certification
Disciplinary actions taken against this officer’s certification
Dates of disciplinary actions taken against this officer’s certification
Training history/additional certifications of this officer, if available

If your certification system contains data elements not listed above, please include
them in the response, provided they are releasable under the law.

If you do not possess records containing all of the information specified above, please provide records reflecting 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 records are processed.

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.

(2) Documentation necessary to understand the certification records
In addition to records reflecting the data elements listed above, we request any additional records sufficient to understand and interpret the data, including but not limited to record layouts, data dictionaries, code sheets, lookup tables, etc.

* * *

To the extent that DCJS withholds records or portions of responsive to this request, please identify with reasonable specificity the volume and subject matter of the withheld records or portions of records.

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.

Tom Nash, in coordination with and on behalf of Sam Stecklow, Invisible Institute