Ring promo, Wolcott
| Submitted | Aug. 2, 2019 |
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Communications
From: Caroline Haskins
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Law enforcement agencies around the country are entering into Promotional Discount Agreements with Ring, Amazon's home security camera company. (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3ag37/us-cities-are-helping-people-buy-amazon-surveillance-cameras-using-taxpayer-money) These agreements direct city funds toward providing a discount on Ring products, such as doorbell cameras.
Therefore, I hereby request the following records related to Ring and possible Promotional Discount Agreements:
1) All calendar invitations, instructional materials, presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other documents that mention Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app. This includes A) any minutes/notes taking during meetings that discussed the use of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app, B) any explanations (whether internally or externally generated) of how Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app work, and C) any other document that has been used to help explain the use, marketing, or promotion of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app to any party, including internal documentation, public relations materials, and executive summaries.
2) A copy of any privacy impact assessments, use policies, standard operating procedures, data retention policies, legal opinions, warranties, non-disclosure agreements, contracts, liability waivers, insurance agreements, Promotional Discount Agreements, Requests for Proposals, Responses to Requests for Proposal, Memorandums of Understanding, Letters of Interest, usage policies, or informal agreements between the city and Ring.
3) A copy of any funding opportunity announcements, grant applications and grantor status/progress reports, reports to legislative bodies, annual reports that mention Ring or the Neighbors app, as well as audit records, including but not limited to security audits of the software, misuse reports, and reports to oversight bodies.
4) Any digital communications including but not limited to emails and text messages) as well as documents, (including but not limited to PDF, word processing, excel, and slide documents) that mention Ring or the Neighbors app.
5) Any digital communications (including but not limited to emails and text messages) with Ring representatives.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. It will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE’s science and technology website (www.motherboard.vice.com).
I also request that, if possible and pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-212(d), fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest and not made for commercial gain. The requested documents will be processed by a representative of the news media/press and made available to the public at MuckRock.com.
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 4 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Caroline Haskins
From: Wolcott Town Clerk
I will forward your email to the correct department.
Karen Mowad, CCTC
Wolcott Town Clerk
From: Caroline Haskins
Thank you! (Also just to clarify, I filed a separate request to the police department, and when I filed this request, I intended it to operate within the Town Clerk/Town Hall ecosystem. So no need to forward to the police department.)
From:
Just to let you know, I am in possession of all your requests for FOI, to both me and the Town Clerk. As I wrote to you earlier, I am in the process of getting the emails between the Police Department and Ring to send to you. I have already sent you materials that we gave out to the public and also instructed you to check our Facebook page where there are also posts of our partnership with Ring.
By continuously sending emails to me and the Town clerk (who does not have any access to emails from the Police Department), requesting the same thing over and over is not going to speed things up. It will instead slow things down because I have to stop what I am doing and answer your emails. On top of that, there are many other things that I (as the Chief of Police, and the only one who fulfills F.O.I. requests)do during the day in running a police department, so you will be getting the requested info when I can compile it all.
Lastly, Connecticut's open records law exempts from disclosure "[p]ersonnel or medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute an invasion of personal privacy." Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-210(b)(2). This exemption applies when the information sought “does not pertain to legitimate matters of public concern and is highly offensive to a reasonable person.” Perkins v. Freedom of Info. Comm'n, 228 Conn. 158, 175 (1993). Under this test, the names and contact information of Ring employees are clearly exempted from disclosure. Ring employees’ names and contact information are not a legitimate matter of public concern, as they are private employees of a private company. Moreover, it would be highly offensive to a reasonable person to disclose their identity and contact information as used in their private capacity. Ring employees’ interest in the privacy of their contact information thus outweighs any possible public interest in such information.
Second, Connecticut law limits the disclosure of information contained in employee's personnel file. Specifically, Connecticut requires the written consent of a private sector employee for disclosure of that employee's personnel file, subject to certain exceptions. See Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-128f. As none of the exceptions set out in that statute apply and Ring employees do not consent to disclosure, this provision provides a separate basis for redacting the names and contact information of Ring employees.
I will be in touch concerning the completed requested info, along with the cost for each page. Yes there are times when I will waive the F.O.I. copy fee, such as incarcerated persons, or those without employment, but being a news organization that obviously have capital, there will be a fee.
If you would like to converse on the phone, please do not hesitate to call one of my below numbers.
Thank You,
Edward L. Stephens
Chief of Police
Wolcott Police Department
225 Nichols Rd.
Wolcott Ct. 06716
203-879-7610 Office
203-494-1480 Cell
203-879-5243 Fax
From: Caroline Haskins
Hi! So first of all, I apologize for the confusion. I began by request by referring to law enforcement—but this is confusing because I did already file a public record request to the police department, which was fulfilled. The promotional agreement that I'm referring to in this request involve an agreement between the city of Wolcott and Ring, not the police of Wolcott and Ring. They involve cities possibly allocating taxpayer money to finance discounts on Ring products. This is the agreement that I wanted this request to inquire about (which is why I filed the request to the Town Clerk). I did not mean to unintentionally double up on requesting documents that I already got.
What additional information can I provide so that this request is processed successfully without further inconvenience on your end?
Again, apologies for the confusion. My fault.
-
Caroline
From: Wolcott Town Clerk
Hello Caroline,
It me again, Chief Stephens. I have the agreement. I will send it tomorrow. Just an FYI, the was no money at all (taxpayer or otherwise)used to be part of this program. They had donated 5 doorbells that were given away(for free) to the willing participants in a free raffle(names put into a hat) at a PTO meeting. One raffle for each school, which there are 5 of total in Wolcott. I had sent you a picture of the 5 winners (also on Facebook ). Then more doorbells were donated and raffled off through the Neighborhood Ring App. That is also on Facebook.
Like I stated, there was never ever any taxpayer or any other type of money involved in this partnership and I will send the copy of agreement tomorrow.
Chief Stephens
Sent from my iPhone
From: Wolcott Town Clerk
Good Morning Caroline,
I have attached the agreement between the Wolcott Police Department and Ring. It is 2 pages. As you can see, there was not any money exchanged at all.
If you need anything further, please contact me.
Thank You,
Edward L. Stephens
Chief of Police
Wolcott Police Department
225 Nichols Rd.
Wolcott Ct. 06716
203-879-7610 Office
203-494-1480 Cell
203-879-5243 Fax
From: Caroline Haskins
Great, thank you so much for your help on this request!
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