How to structure Public Records Requests

Especially Police Public Records and Emails

Know your Agency

• Knowing the structure* of your Agency will help you identify who would have the emails you are after.

• Organization Charts, Budgets, Rosters, and Public Websites can all help you build a picture of how your Agency is structured.

* “Structure” here means who reports to whom; who gives tasks, and who does those tasks. These parties will have to communicate and that is where you get records which give you insight into that process.

Police Chain of Command

Patrol Officers are commanded by Sergeants,Sergeants are commanded by Lieutenants,Lieutenants are (sometimes) commanded by Captains,Captains are (often) commanded by Assistant Chiefs,Most agencies have Detectives -

– but this is a function, not a rank.

Chiefs command the Assistants (or the Captains) and sometimes the Lieutenants of special units.

Chain of Command

• The higher up the chain, the more the emails are about POLICY and STRATEGY.

• Lowest ranks will have the most specific emails (Names, license plate numbers, house addresses, nicknames, etc)

• Sergeants and Supervisors will have emails about how work is structured; who does what, when, and how.

• Each level has its place in proving the department did this spying as POLICY and not as “ROGUE COPS.”

Know your Intelligence Groups

• Interagency Intelligence Groups are commonplace now.

• Your County Sheriff, or largest area City will likely host the closest Intelligence Group

• Each state has at least one Fusion Center

• See https://www.aclu.org/whos-spying-your-neighborhood-map for specific information - some of which is known to be out of date (WA)

Intelligence Distribution

• Modern intelligence distribution is like a private internet.

• Emails distribute links to private online spaces which are “cops only” zones.

• The links expire long before you get the emails as public records.

• The web sites are public records, too – but you will have to fight in court for retention and disclosure. Federal rules tend to protect these records from disclosure.

Intelligence Distribution

• Intelligence is not just sent to Cops.• Intelligence is also shared with private

industry, with local political leaders (City Councils, Legislatures, etc), and with the Military.

• Each recipient is a potential source for public records, as long as they get public money to do what they do.

Washington State Example

• Washington State Fusion Center / WSFC• (Originally) Nine Regional Intelligence Groups• Crime Analyst Positions at each Agency.• RIGs consist of Crime Analysts / Intelligence

Analysts at each agency in a County or RIG area (some are multi county), plus FLO (Fusion Liason Officers).

• Often weekly or biweekly meetings of RIGs.• Analysts are often CIVILIANS under contract.

Specifics

Collect and file Intelligence Sharing Documents, the characters rotate in and out.

Follow the Money

• Grants often open intelligence and Fusion Centers, and tracking those grants can reveal a lot of information about structure.

• Departments of Emergency Management often fund intelligence analysts rather than the Sheriff’s Department or the Police.

• State Patrols often run the Fusion Center for a state. This means they contract the analysts, they house or lease the facilities, and they set the rules and procedures, and supervise the analysts.

Email Requests

• Specify, as much as possible, WHOSE emails you wish to examine, by name or position.

• Specify a time period (keep it as short as you need, shorter means you will get records sooner and have fewer emails to sort and read).

• Specify a topic or keyword ONLY if you must.• It is best to “bracket” the time of an incident

(emails for a week before, and after, a date).

Email Basics

• You want the email, AND the Metadata, AND the attachments.

• You want these as ELECTRONIC FILES, not images of pages.• Metadata is who sent it, when, who got it, and the

detailed headers.• Attached files can be as important as the emails - READ

ALL OF THEM.• Don’t forget to check the author data on attached files.

Often this gives clues to intelligence identities which would otherwise be redacted.

Email basics (cont)

• Every email has at least one sender, and at least one recipient.

• “Map” each recipient of any crucial emails – who are they? Which Agency, which role do they fill? Why were they sent this email?

• Keep note cards (3x5) of each person in the Agency so you can quickly identify who’s on the list in an email of interest.

Email Followups

• When you get a critical email, also request emails from the RECEIVING Agency’s employee.

• The set you get from Agency B might reveal more information that Agency A would not share with you.

• Consider simultaneous requests from each Agency in the first place.

Extracting Emails

• Some agencies give you Outlook files, some give you Adobe PDF files, some give you images of printed and redacted pages.

• When sharing an email from electronic form, share it as a pdf (Use CutePDF to “print” the specific email pages to a PDF file).

• This limits the degree to which the email can be altered, post sharing.

License Plate Searches

• Police often use License Plates to ID those who show up at a rally, a meeting, or a house they are spying on.

• Police collect these plate numbers and run them through state databases for information about who owns the vehicle and any warrants, criminal history, or problems they can act on immediately.

• Logs of these searches can instruct you on when, where, and who is spying on your group.

Washington example: ACCESS

• ACCESS logs show which license plate, when it was searched, and who searched it, as well as what was returned.

• The details of the Owner record are often redacted; you will need a Privacy Waiver to get certain information revealed, but if you have that waiver you already know whose car it was… so you might not have to bother.

Example03/02/2007 11:15 Sent by SP017,NO User IDSP017Q257DOLDB.L.WAWSP10S8.249NDA < License Plate Number DECODED WITH INDEX INFO:WAWSP10S8 :WSP TACOMA COMM CNTR :STATE PATROL TACOMA COMMUNICATIONS :112TH ST E :2502 : :OLYMPIA :THURSTON :WA:98504-2600:SEE ORI WAWSP1000 : : : :SP017:Y: MY NOTES:First day of Military Convoys to Tacoma Port (4-2 Strykers); 8:10PM – 2:50AMDeception phone calls claiming this would be going through Olympia.

Timeline the License Searches

• Simple Word file in date / time order.• Shows the origin of many targeted stops, follow

up research by intelligence groups, and other potential targets of the same officers.

• Keep the files for any future lawsuits / depositions.

• Correlate with Tickets, stops, arrests, protest dates, etc.

• DO NOT PUBLISH THIS KIND OF ANALYSIS.

Follow up Searches

• Once you have the ORI number of an agency terminal which searched your vehicles, request a date limited log of ALL the searches done by that terminal around the same time.

• Timeline these other searches; some will be fellow activists, some will be bystanders parked near the meeting or house where the police found the plate numbers.

• Ask your group’s members to ask for their own license plate searches and then share those with you; they should be the primary custodian of their own records.

Tricks of Public Records Disclosure

• The Paywall: Pay us to search for records, pay us to copy records, pay us for electronic records as if we spent money on paper copies.

• The “Dribble:” Here are your first 30 emails, in a month and a half we will send you 30 more, and then 30 more; it will be 2045 before we are done playing this game.

Defeating the Paywall

• It is nearly always free to examine records at the office of the Agency.

• If they insist on using paper, show up with a digital camera and photograph all the pages. Pay for nothing.

• Most photocopiers now can scan a big pile of records and email it to the Records Clerk, who can redact that set and forward it to you as a file via email or Cloud storage.

Defeating the “Dribble.”

• Keep the original request open.• File new requests based on the partial information

from earlier sets “dribbled.”• Make it clear that as long as they continue to “dribble”

records at an unreasonable rate, every installment will generate one or two new follow up requests.

• Make as much work for them as you can. The dribble is intended to limit the scope of their work and force you to specify your research question rather than wait. Once it stops working, they cannot keep using it.

What’s a BIG request?City of Tacoma example:• Please list out any examples of extremely burdensome requests, including

the estimated number of hours it took to fulfill and any cost calculations, that exceeded 100 hours:

• Allied Law requested ten months worth of public disclosure requests, responses, and any communication regarding public disclosure. Rough estimate of 1,000 hours of staff time to search, review, redact, create privilege logs, do request-specific training/Q&A, and communicate with the requester. This has been an open PDR since June 2010 and is still open at this time (though they have indicated verbally they may cancel the request). Staff from all levels of the organization were involved, but most of the time was spent by public records staff who make $17 to $25 dollars an hour, for a general cost estimate of $17,000 to $25,000.

Meta Requests

• Yes, you can – and probably should – ask for earlier public records requests (the forms and emails which actually made the records requests, including contact info for the requestors)

• This should help you see what records are available, and potentially link you with others who study the same Agency which you are looking at.

• The request language in other requests can also be useful in constructing your own requests.

Request Language

• It is not important to cite the law, quote the law, or explain the law.

• The person you are writing to will ALWAYS know more about Public Records Law than you do… they do this all day, they get paid to do it.

• Just the facts: What you want, how they can contact you, and as brief as possible. If they don’t understand, they will ask you to clarify.

Specify your Specifics

• Who you are (so they know if you’re a Felon)• What you want (describe the records)• What date range (limit the scope of records)• What format you want it in, if that matters• NEVER EXPLAIN WHY YOU WANT IT.• Where they can reach you (Email, phone, address)• If you leave anything out, you have wasted a week or

two (nothing fatal, so JUST DO IT).

Washington State

• Revised Code of Washington 42.56• http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.56• Read through your State’s law at least once• Don’t sweat the exemptions: you will learn

them soon enough. • Each Public Records Officer uses them a little

differently; learn who’s whom.

Examples• This is a request for all video and audio recordings taken by WSP Cessna aircraft in the Puget Sound Region

(both Smokey 3 N2446X and Smokey 4 N305DK) on May 1st 2014 12:01AM through 11:59PM as well as all mission logs, incident reports, emails related to preparing the mission(s), or emails resulting from the mission(s) between January 1, 2014 and May 2, 2014 12:20PM. I prefer electronic delivery via email or drop box for both of these requests, please inform me of any associated reproduction costs prior to incurring same.

• This is a request for A roster of all WSP sworn officers, including first, middle, and last name, date of hire, current rank, current assignment, current office or unit name, phone number, current base pay rate, total overtime for most recent complete fiscal year, or calendar year 2013, whichever is most recent. I would prefer electronic delivery of this record.

• I would like to have digital copies of all Planning emails, CAD logs, Incident Reports, Time and Activity Logs, After Action Reports, Incident Command System logs, Videotape, Audiotape, and associated materials compiled for the "Gun Rights Across America Washington State - Stand Your Ground" event held at the Washington State Capitol Campus on Sunday, January 19, 2014 held from 12 Noon onward.

Basic Psychology

• Never be rude to Secretaries or Clerks – they are your best potential allies.

• Never argue with the person. If you must argue, argue the law or the rules.

• Always appeal denials or redactions to the original agency clerk, first.

• Go to court only if the first appeal fails to win concessions.

• If you do go to court, press for damages / fines to recoup your costs.

Keep Secrets

• If a clerk overshares information, keep your mouth shut. Don’t get them fired, their co-workers will remember you forever.

• Just because you have the details does not make that story YOURS TO TELL.

• Always check with the named persons in a criminal allegation, AND the VICTIMS, before you publish a police report.