Police staff roster (May 2021) (Bellevue Police Department)
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
P001706-052721 |
| Multi Request | Police staff roster (May 2021) |
| Submitted | May 26, 2021 |
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Communications
From: Phil Mocek
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Staff roster including but not limited to first and last names, job titles, areas of assignment, and badge, serial, and other identifying numbers. In order of preference, I would prefer that this data be provided as: OpenDocument spreadsheet, plain text with comma-separated-values (i.e., a "CSV" file), Excel spreadsheet, or the native electronic format of the software from which this information is retrieved in fulfillment of my request. I specifically request that you not create a new record for me by rendering to PDF or by printing your electronic record then scanning it to make a series of images of the printed data.
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 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Phil Mocek
From: Bellevue Police Department
Dear Phil Mocek,
Thank you for submitting your request for public records to the City of Bellevue Police Department. Your request was received in our office on 5/27/2021 8:34:06 PM and given the reference number P001706-052721 for tracking purposes. The details of your request are below.
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Staff roster including but not limited to first and last names, job titles, areas of assignment, and badge, serial, and other identifying numbers. In order of preference, I would prefer that this data be provided as: OpenDocument spreadsheet, plain text with comma-separated-values (i.e., a "CSV" file), Excel spreadsheet, or the native electronic format of the software from which this information is retrieved in fulfillment of my request. I specifically request that you not create a new record for me by rendering to PDF or by printing your electronic record then scanning it to make a series of images of the printed data.
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 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Phil Mocek
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
The City must provide a preliminary response to your request within five (5) business days (RCW 42.56.520); the day the request is received does not count as one of the five (5) days. Weekends and holidays observed by the City are also excluded in the calculation. For additional information regarding our response options, please click here: Prompt Response Required. The City of Bellevue has adopted a Public Records Fee Schedule, please review it for information associated with fees that may be assessed pursuant to your request.
You may monitor the progress of your request via the link below; you will receive an email when your request has been completed. We thank you for using the Public Records Center.
City of Bellevue Police Department
From: Bellevue Police Department
--- Please respond above this line. Anything below will not be viewable to staff. ---
06/07/2021
Phil Mocek,
I am writing to update you on the status of your public disclosure request submitted to the Bellevue Police Department.
Your request is still considered open. We anticipated being able to provide you with responsive records by the end of business on this date, but due to the volume of open requests and the availability of staff, we have been unable to do so. You should anticipate an additional response by the end of business on 6/14/2021 if not sooner.
If you have any questions regarding your disclosure request or any other matter, please contact the Bellevue Police Department Records Unit via the Public Records Portal or by telephone at (425) 452-6917.
Thank you for your patience,
Emma Fierro
Bellevue Police Department
From: Bellevue Police Department
--- Please respond above this line. Anything below will not be viewable to staff. ---
06/14/2021
Phil Mocek,
Information responsive to your request for public records is now available via the City of Bellevue Public Records Portal website. Pop-ups must be enabled on your internet browser to access your files for download . This concludes our search of records in the custody of the Bellevue Police Department. Your request is now closed; we have nothing additionally responsive to this request.
Pursuant to the Public Records Act RCW 42.56, responsive records may be redacted or exempt. Please review the accompanying privilege log for further information, if such redactions or exemptions have been applied.
Per the State Public Records Act (RCW 42.56.120) and City Public Records Act Rules (Section 6), a public records request may be considered abandoned and subsequently closed if a requestor fails to fulfill their obligation to claim an installment of records; claim the entire production of records; inspect the records; or fails to pay the deposit or final payment for requested records within 30 days of this notification.
If you believe the information furnished has been incorrectly redacted or is incomplete, you may file a written appeal. The appeal must include your name and address, a copy of the redacted document and a copy of this letter together with a brief statement identifying the basis of the appeal. Please mail your appeal to:
Bellevue Police Department
Attn: Records Supervisor
P.O. Box 90012
Bellevue, WA 98009-9012
Thank you,
Emma Fierro
Bellevue Police Department RPC 4.4 Inadvertent Disclosure Notification: CR 26 (b) (6) Claw Back Provision *** Please read this notice carefully ***
Dear legal practitioner: Please take notice that we take reasonable precautions to prevent the disclosure of privileged or confidential materials, including those protected by the attorney-client privilege and/or work product doctrine, when responding to request for records. These precautions include, but are not limited to, carefully locating and assembling responsive records, performing an intra-departmental review of the records for purposes of determining whether they contain any privileged or confidential materials, forwarding the records to the County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for independent legal review, meeting and conferring with the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to compare and reconcile any conflicting results of our separate independent reviews and, if necessary, creating a withholding log. Despite our having taken these precautions, occasionally a mistake is made and privileged or confidential documents are inadvertently produced. To that end, we wanted to notify you that there is a possibility that the records being produced may contain privileged or confidential materials. The inadvertent or unintentional production of privileged or confidential documents, without a privileged or confidentiality designation should not be considered a waiver in whole or in part of any claim of privileged or confidential treatment, and any document that initially is produced without bearing a privileged or confidentiality designation may later be so designated. In the event that you believe you have received privileged or confidential materials, we would ask that you promptly notify us of this fact and take action as necessary to comply with the obligations set forth in Rule of Professional Conduct 4.4 and/or Civil Rule 26 (b)(6).
From: Phil Mocek
Dear Sir or Madam:
I appeal. In the record you provided in response to my request, you redacted the names, identification numbers, and department/division/unit of approximately four of your employees. As justification for those redactions, you cited RCW 42.56.240(1), which states in its entirety, "Specific intelligence information and specific investigative records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any person's right to privacy;").
Public employees' names, identification numbers, and department/division/unit, are neither specific intelligence information nor specific investigative records.
Further, it appears that you did not provide this tabular data in any of the formats I requested, which were OpenDocument spreadsheet, plain text with comma-separated-values (i.e., a "CSV" file), Excel spreadsheet, or the native electronic format of the software from which this information is retrieved in fulfillment of my request. You provided a word processing document, formatted for printing. This document is not suitable for searching by machine or by combining into other tabular formats. Imagine if every spreadsheet you needed to work with was instead laid out in a "Word document." You could not review it in standard spreadsheet software, import it into a database, or perform any of a variety of other data searching and manipulation tasks on it. The result is less useful to the public.
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Washington Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 26, 2021. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on June 14, 2021. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date. You had assigned it reference number #P001706-052721.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Phil Mocek
Dear Sir or Madam:
In consideration of my appeal, sent July 14, 2021, of your processing of my May 27, 2021, request for your staff roster, and of future requests for records that contain names, identification numbers, or department/division/unit of public employees, please see Municipal Research and Services Center's February 24, 2020, guidance, "New Ruling Provides Guidance on `Specific Intelligence'": <https://mrsc.org/Home/Stay-Informed/MRSC-Insight/February-2020/New-Ruling-on-Specific-Intelligence.aspx>. In it, author Steve Goss references West v. City of Tacoma, No. 51487-7-II (Published January 28, 2020), Division II of the Court of Appeals.
Reading that opinion, I find the following (pp25-26) to be of particular relevance to your processing of my request:
==== BEGIN QUOTED MATERIAL ================
Under RCW 42.56.240(1), specific intelligence information and specific investigative records may be exempt from production. This exemption is intended to protect the integrity of law enforcement investigations. Koenig v. Thurston County, 175 Wn.2d 837, 843, 287 P.3d 523 (2012). To qualify for this exemption, the record must be (1) specific information that is intelligence or investigative in nature; (2) compiled by an investigative, law enforcement, or penological agency; and (3) essential to law enforcement or the protection of privacy. RCW 42.56.240(1); Wade’s Eastside Gun Shop, Inc. v. Dep’t of Labor and Indus., 185 Wn.2d 270, 281, 372 P.3d 97 (2016).
Specific investigative records are records compiled from a specific investigation that focused on a particular party. Koenig, 175 Wn.2d at 843. A specific investigation is “designed to ferret out criminal activity or to shed light on some other allegation of malfeasance.” Columbian Publ’g Co. v. City of Vancouver, 36 Wn. App. 25, 31, 671 P.2d 280 (1983). The City does not argue that the redacted documents were investigative records, and because the redacted records did not result from a particular investigation, these records cannot be specific investigative records. Thus, our first focus is on the question of whether the information is “specific intelligence information.”
“Specific intelligence information” is not defined in the PRA. “[T]he term ‘specific’ in the exemption for specific intelligence information must be read to require not that the information concern particular individuals, but that it disclose particular methods or procedures for gathering or evaluating intelligence information.” Haines-Marchel v. Dep’t of Corr., 183 Wn. App. 655, 669, 334 P.3d 99 (2014).
In King County v. Sheehan, we held that a list of police officers’ names was not specific intelligence information. 114 Wn. App. 325, 337-38, 57 P.3d 307 (2002). Because the PRA does not define the term “specific intelligence information,” we looked to a dictionary definition to determine its ordinary meaning. King County, 114 Wn. App. at 337. We defined intelligence in this context as “‘the gathering or distribution of information, especially secret information,’ or ‘information about an enemy’ or ‘the evaluated conclusions drawn from such information.’” King County, 114 Wn. App. at 337 (quoting RANDOM HOUSE UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY 990 (2d ed. 1993)). Further, we held that the exemption applied to specific intelligence information, which suggested an even narrower interpretation of the exemption. King County, 114 Wn. App. at 337.
==== END QUOTED MATERIAL ================
The material you redacted is not records compiled from a specific investigation that focused on a particular party. The "specific intelligence information" exemption described in RCW 42.56.240(1) does not apply.
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Bellevue Police Department
Dear Mr. Mocek,
Your appeal of the City of Bellevue's response to public records request number P001706-052721 was forwarded to me yesterday, July 22, 2021. I have carefully considered the appeal and determined that the redactions made were appropriate. As clarified in the attached document, no employee names or badge numbers were redacted. Lines without names and/or numbers reflect that those positions are currently vacant. The names of units with undercover officers were redacted under RCW 42.56.240(1) because the nondisclosure of this information is essential to protect the integrity of law enforcement activities and to maintain officer safety as it may reveal the identity of individuals who are or were performing an undercover or covert law enforcement activity.
The original format for the staff roster you requested is Microsoft Word. This information does not currently exist in another format but, as a courtesy, the City can create an Excel document with the information. If that is agreeable, we will send you this information again in Excel format.
Thank you,
Kathleen
Kathleen Kline
Assistant City Attorney
City of Bellevue
450 110th Avenue NE
P.O. Box 90012
Bellevue, WA 98009
Phone: 425-452-4085
kkline@bellevuewa.gov<mailto:kkline@bellevuewa.gov>
Pronouns: she/her/hers
[logo-city-of-Bellevue]
E-MAIL CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The contents of this e-mail message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. If you are not an intended recipient of this message or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this message and any attachments. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.
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From: Phil Mocek
Dear Ms. Kline:
I am surprised to learn that your agency's staff roster is maintained as a word processor file rather than in a database of some sort. If that is truly the case, then you are under no obligation to transform it for me. If, however, it is in a database and the word processor file is generated from data in that database, then I ask that you export to a spreadsheet file instead of to a word processor file.
Names of units, with or without undercover officers, are not records compiled from a specific investigation that focused on a particular party. 42.56.240(1), the "specific intelligence information" exemption, does not apply, regardless of whether or not nondisclosure of that information is essential to protect the integrity of law enforcement activities or to maintain officer safety.
Please see Municipal Research and Services Center's February 24, 2020, guidance, "New Ruling Provides Guidance on `Specific Intelligence'": <https://mrsc.org/Home/Stay-Informed/MRSC-Insight/February-2020/New-Ruling-on-Specific-Intelligence.aspx>. In it, author Steve Goss references West v. City of Tacoma, No. 51487-7-II (Published January 28, 2020), Division II of the Court of Appeals.
Reading that opinion, I find the following (pp25-26) to be of particular relevance to your processing of my request:
==== BEGIN QUOTED MATERIAL ================
Under RCW 42.56.240(1), specific intelligence information and specific investigative records may be exempt from production. This exemption is intended to protect the integrity of law enforcement investigations. Koenig v. Thurston County, 175 Wn.2d 837, 843, 287 P.3d 523 (2012). To qualify for this exemption, the record must be (1) specific information that is intelligence or investigative in nature; (2) compiled by an investigative, law enforcement, or penological agency; and (3) essential to law enforcement or the protection of privacy. RCW 42.56.240(1); Wade’s Eastside Gun Shop, Inc. v. Dep’t of Labor and Indus., 185 Wn.2d 270, 281, 372 P.3d 97 (2016).
Specific investigative records are records compiled from a specific investigation that focused on a particular party. Koenig, 175 Wn.2d at 843. A specific investigation is “designed to ferret out criminal activity or to shed light on some other allegation of malfeasance.” Columbian Publ’g Co. v. City of Vancouver, 36 Wn. App. 25, 31, 671 P.2d 280 (1983). The City does not argue that the redacted documents were investigative records, and because the redacted records did not result from a particular investigation, these records cannot be specific investigative records. Thus, our first focus is on the question of whether the information is “specific intelligence information.”
“Specific intelligence information” is not defined in the PRA. “[T]he term ‘specific’ in the exemption for specific intelligence information must be read to require not that the information concern particular individuals, but that it disclose particular methods or procedures for gathering or evaluating intelligence information.” Haines-Marchel v. Dep’t of Corr., 183 Wn. App. 655, 669, 334 P.3d 99 (2014).
In King County v. Sheehan, we held that a list of police officers’ names was not specific intelligence information. 114 Wn. App. 325, 337-38, 57 P.3d 307 (2002). Because the PRA does not define the term “specific intelligence information,” we looked to a dictionary definition to determine its ordinary meaning. King County, 114 Wn. App. at 337. We defined intelligence in this context as “‘the gathering or distribution of information, especially secret information,’ or ‘information about an enemy’ or ‘the evaluated conclusions drawn from such information.’” King County, 114 Wn. App. at 337 (quoting RANDOM HOUSE UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY 990 (2d ed. 1993)). Further, we held that the exemption applied to specific intelligence information, which suggested an even narrower interpretation of the exemption. King County, 114 Wn. App. at 337.
==== END QUOTED MATERIAL ================
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Bellevue Police Department
Dear Mr. Mocek,
Thank you for your email. Again, the existing police department staff roster (employee list), that would show all the information you requested (first and last names, job titles, areas of assignment, and badge, serial, and other identifying numbers) is only maintained as a word document and was not generated from a database. As a courtesy, we have compiled the datasets you requested by creating a new record from multiple sources. The attached excel and csv documents have the (1) first name, (2) last name, (3) title, (4) badge number, and (5) area of assignment for police department staff.
RCW 42.56.240(1) exempts both “intelligence information” and “investigative records” compiled by a law enforcement agency if the information is “essential to effective law enforcement” or needed to protect a person’s privacy rights.” Intelligence information includes records that may reveal particular methods or procedures for gathering or evaluating intelligence information, the disclosure of which would harm future law enforcement efforts. See Haines-Marchel v. State, Dept. of Corrections, 183 Wn. App. 655, 334 P.3d 99 (2014) (concluding identity of informants and criteria used to evaluate the reliability of informants was specific intelligence information); Gronquist v. State, Department of Corrections, 177 Wn. App. 389, 313 P.3d 416 (2013), review denied, 180 Wn.2d 1004, 321 P.3d 1207 (2014) (concluding prison surveillance recordings was intelligence information because they would reveal information about investigative methods). As the quote you excerpt in your email from the recent West case makes clear, “[T]he term ‘specific’ in the exemption for specific intelligence information must be read to require not that the information concern particular individuals, but that it disclose particular methods or procedures for gathering or evaluating intelligence information.” West v. City of Tacoma, 12 Wn. App. 2d 45, 71, 334 P.3d 99 (2020), quoting Haines-Marchel, 183 Wn. App. at 669.
Kathleen
Kathleen Kline
Assistant City Attorney
City of Bellevue
450 110th Avenue NE
P.O. Box 90012
Bellevue, WA 98009
Phone: 425-452-4085
kkline@bellevuewa.gov<mailto:kkline@bellevuewa.gov>
Pronouns: she/her/hers
[logo-city-of-Bellevue]
E-MAIL CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The contents of this e-mail message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. If you are not an intended recipient of this message or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this message and any attachments. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.
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