Louisiana Public Records Law Request: Sustained findings since 2017

Dear Dilcia Mercedes:
Thank you for visiting the City of Baton Rouge Public Records Center.  We are in receipt of your request for records.  We will process your request; once your records are available, we will alert your office. Due to a recent high volume of request received by our office, please allow at least thirty days for production of any records that may be available.  Your request was received in this office on 2/13/2023 and assigned the reference number P002104-021323 for tracking purposes.

Records Requested: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Louisiana Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Under the Louisiana Public Records Act § 44:1 et seq., I am requesting copies of records related to cases of sustained findings of police misconduct at the Baton Rouge Police Department’s Internal Affairs, between 2017 and 2022.
My organization is specifically interested in a case index for any cases that meet the criteria of the last sentence. We previously submitted a similar request and in hopes of narrowing it down a bit, a case index would be extremely hepful.

Here, misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

Excessive (unreasonable) force – beatings, manhandling of people in handcuffs, improper use of Tasers, injuries inflicted by police dogs, improper use of deadly force, and other police brutality or disregard for the safety of suspects. It also includes, but is not limited to: physical and verbal abuse, restraints happening unreasonably, coerced or forced confessions, and sexual abuse and assault.

False arrests – pulling over, detention, questioning and searches conducted without any probable cause whatsoever, including cases of planted evidence, racial profiling and trumped-up charges of resisting arrest.

Louisiana's Public Records Act does not exclude police disciplinary records from release, even if it violates the officer’s constitutional right to privacy, as ruled by the Louisiana Court of Appeals in its 2008 case of City of Baton Rouge v. Capital City Press.

Any person who has been denied the right to inspect or copy a record under the provisions of this Chapter, either by a final determination of the custodian or by the passage of five days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays, from the date of his request without receiving a final determination in writing by the custodian, may institute proceedings for the issuance of a writ of mandamus, injunctive or declaratory relief, together with attorney's fees, costs and damages as provided for by this Section, in the district court for the parish in which the office of the custodian is located.

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 3 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Dilcia Mercedes

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
To the extent the records pertain to an ongoing criminal or administrative investigation/prosecution, the relevant records will not be subject to disclosure pursuant to LSA-R.S. 44:3, unless otherwise deemed releasable pursuant to the BRPD Public Release of Critical Incident Recording Policy.
Monitoring the progress of your request is available by using the link below.  Again, thank you for using the City of Baton Rouge Public Records Center.

PLEASE NOTE:  Louisiana Public Records Law does not require a governmental body to create a new document in response to a request for public records.

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Hello Ms. Mercedes,
I am trying to get some clarification on what you are looking for insofar as a "case index."  We have yearly IA investigation summaries for 2019-2021.  online.  See: https://www.brla.gov/2507/Transparency  If this is what you are looking for, we can pull 2017, 2018 and 2022 (if it is complete).  If this is not what you are looking for, please let me know.
Deelee Morris

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Good Afternoon,
We do not have a spreadsheet that fits that description.  However, we will create a print out from the IA database that contains some of those categories.
Sincerely,
Deelee Morris

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FOR:  Dilcia Mercedes with Muck Rock News Your public records request has beencompleted.  Please see your invoice below.
**PLEASE SUBMIT A COPY OF YOUR INVOICE WITH PAYMENT**
***PLEASE INDICATE REFERENCE NUMBER AND BRPD FILE NO. (IFAPPLICABLE) ON YOUR CHECK***
****IF YOU HAVE PAYMENT QUESTIONS, CALL OUR RECORDS DIV. AT225-389-3839**** INVOICE
Re: Public Records Request dated 2/13/23 (Ref. #P2104-021323 - 2017-2022 IA Summaries)

*  2017-2022 IA Summaries (81 pgs. @ $1 each) = $81.00
TOTAL: $81.00
MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO:
BATON ROUGE POLICE DEPT.
ATTN:  TRAFFIC RECORDS
9000 AIRLINE HWY.
BATON ROUGE, LA 70815 Christy Duke BRPD Legal Division