Contracts and Policies Regarding IMSI Catchers (Anchorage Police Department)
Submitted | Oct. 31, 2016 |
Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Curtis Waltman
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Alaska Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Documents concerning IMSI catchers or any of the following words: "Stingray", "cell site simulator", or "dirtbox". including:
-Contracts with the Harris Corporation regarding the acquisition of their Stingray or KingFish IMSI catchers
-Department policies and procedure regarding the use of IMSI catcher technology
-policies and procedures on the keeping of statistics about the Department's use and acquisition of IMSI catchers
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,
Curtis Waltman
From: APD Records
Mr. Waltman,
We are in receipt of your letter requesting records relating to Contracts and Policies Regarding IMSI Catchers.
Under the Anchorage Municipal Code (AMC) we are to provide you with the requested documents within two days of a request. If we are unable to do so we are to make further inquiry of you as to whether you still wish to have the documents. If so then, assuming the documents exist, we are to provide them within a reasonable amount of time:
AMC 3.90.060 C. All requests for records and information made pursuant to this chapter shall be responded to within a reasonable time period. If the records and information cannot be located in time to make a response within two working days of the request, the requesting party shall be promptly advised, and, if the requesting party still desires the information or records, a reasonable and diligent search shall be made for it.
This is to advise you that we cannot provide the requested documents within two days, but we will provide the documents in a reasonable amount of time provided:
1) you advise us that you still want them;
2) they exist; and
3) that you are willing to pay in advance for the search and retrieval of the records and any associated costs such as photocopies or CDs based upon the estimate we send you. Under our code we can charge up to $40 per hour for search and retrieval. Additionally, photocopies are .30 per page.
AMC 3.90.050 Departmental regulation of time, place and manner of inspection of records.
The mayor shall, pursuant to Chapter 3.40, adopt municipal regulations for each municipal department as to the time, place and manner of inspection of public records held by the municipality. Such regulations may also provide:
A. That a fee may be required. The fee shall not exceed the actual cost to the agency. No fee shall be charged when a person simply requests access to the information, however employee time may be charged when the nature of the information requires custodial observation of the access. If the person is unable to pay any requested fee, and signs an affidavit to the effect he is indigent, there will be no cost to such person.
AMCR 3.90.005 Record retrieval charges.
In addition to the fee for copying a record, a municipal agency may charge a fee for employee time to search for, retrieve, and redact as necessary, the record at a rate not exceeding $40.00 per hour.
As noted above, we cannot provide with the documents in two days. As such, at this point I just need to know, whether you are willing to pay the costs associated with the search, retrieval and redaction of the documents. At this time the cost is estimated to be over $800.00. Please keep in mind that even if the cost exceeds the estimate you would need to pay the full amount once the records search is complete. If you are willing to pay the amount indicated please advise by return letter or email.
Please be aware that should you decide to pay for the "search, retrieval and redaction" of documents based on the estimate provided, you may not receive copies of all of the documents we find that are relevant to your request. Some of the documents may be legally exempt from production under our public records ordinance. Until we have performed the search and examined the documents we will not know if any exemptions apply.
v/r
Michael Chin
Records Manager
Anchorage Police Dept.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 31, 2016. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Curtis Waltman
Hello Mr. Chin,
In order for me to gain some clarification about how I might adjust the scope of my request to cut down on costs, would you mind providing me with a breakdown of where these costs are coming from? I am currently in the process of figuring out how I want to proceed and this would be a great help. Thank you!
Best,
Curtis Waltman
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