Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Baton Rouge Police Department)

Brandon Smith filed this request with the Baton Rouge Police Department of Baton Rouge-East Baton Rouge, LA.
Submitted Aug. 1, 2016
Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Brandon Smith

Subject: Louisiana Public Records Act Request: Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Baton Rouge Police Department)

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All records responsive to the below requests dated from January 1, 2014 through July 28, 2016.
- The full documentation of all contracts or non-disclosure agreements (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with the companies "Persistent Surveillance Systems" or "Vigilant Solutions"
- Copies of all invoices to or from these companies, and documents sufficient to show any and all disbursement of public funds to either company
- The full documentation of all contracts (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with any company other than the two cited above, in which said company provides your department with equipment or services (including software) for 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- Copies of all invoices to or from any company that fits the description in the prior paragraph, and documents sufficient to show any disbursement of public funds to any company that fits this description
- All emails between police department email accounts and users on the domains "pss-1.com" or "vigilantsolutions.com". (One example would be brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com. Users on the domain would be in the form of XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com)
- All paper-based communications between your department and Persistent Surveillance Systems, and between your department and Vigilant Solutions. In asking for all paper and electronic correspondence, this request necessarily includes marketing materials and descriptions of product capabilities for any device, software, or access/capability this department has purchased. A circuit court judge in Illinois recently ruled that non-disclosure agreements signed by public bodies do not trump freedom of information laws when it comes to surveillance equipment/capability purchased by police. Citation:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/chicago-police-must-finally-produce-stingray-records-judge-orders/
- Documents sufficient to show all rules or regulations governing the use of products (hardware or software) that do 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- The text of all agreements (whether formal, email, memo, or otherwise) between your department and any other public body or department that allows your department to use or access the capabilities of 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of scanning license plates or accessing a database of scanned plates, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).
- Documents sufficient to show the total number of license plates scanned in your department's jurisdiction (whether the jurisdiction in this case is precisely or roughly represented) since the department began its plate-scanning program or first purchased access to such a program
- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of persistent aerial surveillance, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).
- Documents sufficient to show the number of plane-hours of aerial surveillance (excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions) purchased by your department within the dates at the top of this request. For example, one plane flying for four hours is four plane-hours. Two planes flying for four hours is eight plane-hours.
- Documents sufficient to show any attempt made by a representative of your department to inform the public about automatic license plate readers or persistent aerial surveillance. This could include but is not limited to records of town hall meetings, quotes from police spokespeople in local media, or text from the department's website.

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,

Brandon Smith

From: MuckRock

Subject: RE: Louisiana Public Records Act Request: Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Baton Rouge Police Department)

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All records responsive to the below requests dated from January 1, 2014 through July 28, 2016.
- The full documentation of all contracts or non-disclosure agreements (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with the companies "Persistent Surveillance Systems" or "Vigilant Solutions"
- Copies of all invoices to or from these companies, and documents sufficient to show any and all disbursement of public funds to either company
- The full documentation of all contracts (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with any company other than the two cited above, in which said company provides your department with equipment or services (including software) for 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- Copies of all invoices to or from any company that fits the description in the prior paragraph, and documents sufficient to show any disbursement of public funds to any company that fits this description
- All emails between police department email accounts and users on the domains "pss-1.com" or "vigilantsolutions.com". (One example would be brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com. Users on the domain would be in the form of XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com)
- All paper-based communications between your department and Persistent Surveillance Systems, and between your department and Vigilant Solutions. In asking for all paper and electronic correspondence, this request necessarily includes marketing materials and descriptions of product capabilities for any device, software, or access/capability this department has purchased. A circuit court judge in Illinois recently ruled that non-disclosure agreements signed by public bodies do not trump freedom of information laws when it comes to surveillance equipment/capability purchased by police. Citation:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/chicago-police-must-finally-produce-stingray-records-judge-orders/
- Documents sufficient to show all rules or regulations governing the use of products (hardware or software) that do 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- The text of all agreements (whether formal, email, memo, or otherwise) between your department and any other public body or department that allows your department to use or access the capabilities of 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of scanning license plates or accessing a database of scanned plates, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).
- Documents sufficient to show the total number of license plates scanned in your department's jurisdiction (whether the jurisdiction in this case is precisely or roughly represented) since the department began its plate-scanning program or first purchased access to such a program
- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of persistent aerial surveillance, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).
- Documents sufficient to show the number of plane-hours of aerial surveillance (excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions) purchased by your department within the dates at the top of this request. For example, one plane flying for four hours is four plane-hours. Two planes flying for four hours is eight plane-hours.
- Documents sufficient to show any attempt made by a representative of your department to inform the public about automatic license plate readers or persistent aerial surveillance. This could include but is not limited to records of town hall meetings, quotes from police spokespeople in local media, or text from the department's website.

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,

Brandon Smith

From: Brandi Lawrence

Subject: RE: Louisiana Public Records Act Request: Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Baton Rouge Police Department)

Email

Due to the extent of this request. Please allow additional time to compy with your request.

From: Lisa Freeman

Subject: RE: Louisiana Public Records Act Request: Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Baton Rouge Police Department)

Email

Good evening,

We received your inquiry dated March 8, 2017. The email chain shows numerous prior inquiries asking for an update but no information is shown indicating what email address these inquiries were sent. Please provide us with that information so that we can better serve you in a timely manner.

Sincerely,
LF

Lisa Freeman
Sr. Special Asst. Parish Attorney
Office of the Parish Attorney
City-Parish of East Baton Rouge
222 St. Louis Street, Suite 902
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802
Post Office Box 1471
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821
Telephone: 225.389.3114
Facsimile: 225.389.5554

From: Brandon Smith

Subject: RE: Louisiana Public Records Act Request: Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Baton Rouge Police Department)

Email

Earlier emails were sent to PublicRecordsRequest@brgov.com

From: Lisa Freeman

Subject: RE: Louisiana Public Records Act Request: Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Baton Rouge Police Department)

Email

Good afternoon, Mr. Smith,

We have received and will process your request below and will advise you when we have responsive documents available for delivery.
Best regards,

LF

Lisa Freeman
Sr. Special Asst. Parish Attorney
B.R.P.D. Legal Advisor
9000 Airline Highway
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70815
Telephone: 225.389.3809
Facsimile: 225.389.5589

From: Lisa Freeman

Subject: MUCKROCK PRR - Persistent Surveillance Systems, Vigilant Solutions Surveillance Systems

Email

Dear Mr. Smith,

I have confirmed with BRPD Accounting Division that the Department did not do business with nor have any contractual relationship with the referenced companies in your PRR as you inquired about.

Based on this finding, no electronic or digital searches were subsequently conducted for those companies.

As to language in your request regarding "any other company other than the two cited," and "any company that fits the description in the prior paragraph," we need you to provide clarification, identifying such "other companies."

Once you are able to provide this information, we will be able to continue to process this request.

Many thanks,

LF

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