West Valley City, UT PD Citizen Complaints
| Submitted | Aug. 31, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Caitlin Russell
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act (“GRAMA”), 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 (sometimes called internal complaints) 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. 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.
4. 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 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer
From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act (“GRAMA”), 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 (sometimes called internal complaints) 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. 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.
4. 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 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer
From: Helpdesk Records
Dear Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer,
Your request for statistics regarding number of citizen complaints,
complaints regarding peer officers, Officer involved shootings, collecting
all of the information and type of information, I.E., use of force, Abuse
language, unwarranted search, result of complaint etc. has been sent to our
I.A. Division. We have been informed by that division, that the amount of
information being requested and to place it into the various sub-categories
you are needing, will take some time. Do to the amount of research and
time involved it is necessary to charge a fee to compile all the
information you are requesting. The estimated total cost for this research
and time is $650.00. As many institutions and other research companies
have not claimed the research provided as requested in past years, our
office has determined that it is necessary to charge half of the estimated
cost of research up front. Please provide a check or money order of $325.00
payable to West Valley City so that we may begin this process in order to
provide you with the needed information. Final estimated payment will be
required upon completion of your request. As this is an estimate the final
cost could be more or less of the total estimate. Our address is listed
below. Please contact us should you have any questions.
Thank you,
Kent Jensen
Records Officer
WVCPD
3575 South Market Street
WVC, UT 84119
Records 801-963-3226
Fax 801-963-3333
CONFIDENTIAL: This email is OFFICIAL POLICE BUSINESS and may contain
sensitive and/or confidential information regarding individuals or
investigations’ being conducted by the West Valley City Police Department
and the information is not to be redistributed without authorization. If
you have received this email and you are not the intended recipient, please
notify the person who sent it, or the West Valley City Police Department,
then immediately destroy the documents received.
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From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer
Hello Kent,
Thank you for compiling these costs. We understand the request is extensive and the need for a payment is understandable, but $650 is will beyond our budget. What would the costs be to simply obtain the total amount of external and internal complaints (#1 and #2) for ten years (this excludes information on the outcome of each complaint). Are there other things I could do to reduce the costs?
Thank you very much.
Alex Cartwright
From: Helpdesk Records
HI Alex,
I’m sorry, but the cost for compiling the information, even limited, would
still be the same. The reason for this is that by GRAMA Law we are
required to use the least expensive person who is capable of doing the work
requested. In this case, the person who has the ability to compile the
information is the IA Lt. Unfortunately we are not able to deviate from the
stated cost as the involved research for pulling the information would be
the same.
Sincerely
Kent Jensen
WVPD Records
From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer
Thank you very much for the explanation. I would like to withdraw this request for right now and I will reach out to you again when I have a larger budget.
Respectfully, -Alex Cartwright
From: Helpdesk Records
I understand. I will let the Lt. Buchanan know of the circumstances and we
will wait for a later time. Thank you and have a good day sir.
Kent
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~WRD000