Burleigh County Sheriff emails re: protests August 23- September 6 2016

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to North Dakota Constitution, Article XI, Section 6, and the North Dakota Open Records Statute, N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18(1), I hereby request the following records:

Any email sent or received by any member of the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department between the dates of August 23, 2016 and September 6, 2016 which contains the words "protest" "protests" "protester" or "protesters."

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 would request your response within ten (10) business days.

Sincerely,

Christopher Thomas
Investigative Journalist, Unicorn Riot - an educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit
www.unicornriot.ninja

Mr. Schaffer,

I consider this denial to be improper as this is newsworthy information which the public has the right to access. In the event specific information needs to be redacted, my organization is prepared to pay fees associated with the time taken to redact or otherwise process records. Furthermore, other law enforcement agencies in North Dakota have provided me with partially redacted records in response to a request identical to this one, which means that you also have the discretion to do so under North Dakota law. Please proceed with this request. In the event you cannot proceed with this request please provide me with a formal channel to appeal this denial.

sincerely,
Christopher Thomas
Unicorn Riot