911 Recording -- Susan Collins Chalking

Dear Sargent Betters,

Pursuant to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, I hereby request the following records:

A recording of the call received by the City of Bangor Emergency Dispatch Center at approximately 21:20 on 05/07/22 which initiated the police response now numbered incident 22-032757. In previous correspondence with me dated 5/19/2022 you indicated that this record did not go to a “public safety answering point” aka 911 call center and therefore is not subject to the limitations on 911 call recordings under 25 M.R.S.A. § 2929(4).

In the event that the call need to be redacted in part per 16 M.R.S.A. § 804(3), I ask that only information that is confidential or otherwise not subject to public inspection under the FOAA be redacted and the rest of the record released in accordance with M.R.S.A 1 § 408-A

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by 1 M.R.S.A. § 408(6). The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Russel Neiss

Sargent Betters,

Please note that this is a new request under the FOAA distinct from the previous one submitted on 05/10/2022 .

To wit. this is not for a transcript of the call, but specifically for the recording of the call itself which I believe to exist given that the incident report makes reference of a call being received by an employee of the city's Emergency Dispatch Center which I believe is under the police department's purview.

Please let me know when this record will be made available, or if this request too is being rejected.

Thank you again for your time and attention,
Russel

Thank you -- I disagree with your application of the statute, but I do thoroughly appreciate the prompt response again.

Best regards,
Russel