UOF - Carter County Sheriff

1999 OK AG 55 filed this request with the Carter County Sheriff Office of Carter County, OK.
Submitted Aug. 29, 2022
Status
Completed

Communications

From: 1999 OK AG 55

Subject: Oklahoma Open Records Act Request: UOF - Carter County Sheriff

Fax

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

REPORTING GUIDANCE
Any and all instructions, guidance, and policies related to the reporting of uses of force by any member or representative of this agency.

FORMS, CODES, and OTHER GUIDANCE
All forms, codes, guides, and guidance used in the reporting and review of uses of force or weapons, including:
Any list of codes or definitions for terms or tags used in the reporting, collection, or review of uses of force.
A blank version of each form, log, and other documentation used to report or track uses of force by this agency.
A blank version of each form, log, and other documentation used to report or track the borrowing or use of lethal, less-lethal, and non-lethal weapons
A blank version of each form, log, and other documentation used to report or track any discharge of force from firearms, tools, or weapons employed by this agency
A copy of any guidance, requirements, laws, and policies issued by the state, including those issued as part of grant or other funding requirements, regarding this agency’s responsibilities for reportings uses of force or weapons
A copy of any guidance, requirements, laws, and policies issued by the federal government, including those issued as part of grant or other funding requirements, regarding this agency’s responsibilities for reportings uses of force or weapons

USE OF FORCE DATA
For the period from January 1, 2020 through August 29, 2022, data on the each use of force by representatives of this agency, including but not limited to:
Date, time: The date (month, day, year) and time of the incident
Location: Street address, block, and other relevant location information
Subject(s) information: race, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, resultant or related injuries sustained or alleged, weapon type (if applicable) in the possession of each involved individual, arrests or charges associated with the incident
Officer information (for each involved officer): employee number or other unique identifier used for the officer, race, resultant or related physical injuries, title/position
Incident details: incident or other unique identification number for the use of force incident
Type of force details: a description of each type of force used
Body camera or other footage: Inventory of any video record was created of the incident and/or a copy of the captured footage from all present cameras
Disposition of investigation into the incident: The current or final status of each use of force incident, including whether challenges to the use of force were sustained or dismissed or if the incident had no or is currently under investigation
Please provide the information as a csv spreadsheet, if possible, and if not possible, please provide incident reports sufficient to show the requested data.

EQUIPMENT DISCHARGE DATA
For the period from January 1, 2020 through August 29, 2022, data on each discharge of a firearm and other weapons by representatives of this agency, including but not limited to:
Date, time: The date (month, day, year) and time of the incident
Location: Street address, block, and other relevant location information
Incident description and details
Tool or weapon used, including any unique identifier or identification number
Officer information (for each involved officer): employee number or other unique identifier used for the officer, race, resultant or related physical injuries, title/position
Number of discharges
Subject(s) information: race, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, resultant or related injuries sustained or alleged, weapon type (if applicable) in the possession of each involved individual, arrests or charges associated with the incident
Officer information (for each involved officer): employee number or other unique identifier used for the officer, race, resultant or related physical injuries, patrol division, unit
Type of force details: a description of each type of force used
Disposition or status of any investigation or follow-up review of the incident
Please provide the information as a csv spreadsheet, if possible, and if not possible, please provide incident reports sufficient to show the requested data.

The Act requires that public bodies provide “prompt, reasonable access to its records,” which Attorney General Drew Edmondson in 1999 defined as meaning “only the time required to locate and compile the public records.”

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 10 business days.

Sincerely,

1999 OK AG 55

From:

Subject: Open Records Request submitted to the Carter County, Oklahoma Sheriff's Office

Email

MuckRock News

To whom it may concern:

I have been retained to review and respond to your open records request submitted to the Carter County Sheriff's Office. As there is no name or information on the request concerning who is to be contacted with any questions concerning the request, please provide me with the name of a specific person who has authority to discuss the request and address any questions that may arise.

As for the request, the Oklahoma Open Records Act allows a public entity reasonable time to review the request, gather and review potentially responsive documents and provide an appropriate response. The Act does not specifically define what is or is not a reasonable time. As I have just been asked to review and respond the request, I will need time to gather and review documents that may be responsive to you request. I hope to have an idea of the volume by early next week and will be able to give you a better time frame for response after I have determined the amount of records that need to be gathered, have reviewed those documents, and then have made a determination as to which documents are subject to disclosure under the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

Going forward, please direct any correspondence regarding the request to me at the contact information listed below. Thank you and if you have any questions, please let me know.

WELLON B. POE
COLLINS, ZORN & WAGNER, PLLC
429 NE 50th, Second Floor
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Telephone: (405) 524-2070
Facsimile: (405) 524-2078
E-mail wbp@czwlaw.com<mailto:wbp@czwlaw.com>

* * * * * NOTICE: This e-mail message and any attachment(s) are intended only for the named recipient(s) above. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not review, retransmit, forward, print, copy, use or disseminate the email and/or any attachments. This email and any attachment(s) contain information which may be legally privileged, attorney work-product or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this message in error or are not the named recipient(s), please notify me at (405) 524-2070 or by return email and delete this e-mail message from your computer. If this email contains a forwarded email or is a reply to a prior email, the contents may not have been produced by the sender and therefore both I and/or Collins, Zorn & Wagner, P.C. are not responsible for its contents. * * * * IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, I inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.* * * * These notices are automatically appended to each e-mail. It is the recipient's responsibility to take measures to ensure this e-mail is virus free and no responsibility is accepted by either Collins, Zorn & Wagner, P.C. or me for any loss or damage arising in any way from its use. * * * * *

From: 1999 OK AG 55

Subject: RE: Oklahoma Open Records Act Request: UOF - Carter County Sheriff

Email

Dear Mr./Ms. Wellon,
According to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, ANYONE may request public records and no statement of purpose is required. This request is being made via the Muckrock platform, such platform is designed to forward any and all correspondence between the public body and the requester. The platform has been successfully doing so for over 10+ years. Please note that the Oklahoma Open Records Act does not exempt a request due to the anonymity of a requester.
In response to your concern as to who "has authority" to respond to questions related to the request, the platforms purpose is to ensure all requests are able to be responded to fully and competently.
This includes the assurance that questions within the scope of the requested records can and will be addressed.
I appreciate that you will be gathering records and able to respond with a time line upon receiving this response.

Please be mindful when making your determination of disclosure, the Oklahoma Open Records Act, 51 O.S. 24A.1-51 O.S. 24A.24 (1991-1998), as amended, establishes a presumption public bodies and officials must provide the public access to all records of the public body or public official unless a record is required to be confidential by law or may be kept confidential under the Act.
A written citation of the applicable exemption will be expected for any and all requested records in which you choose not to disclose. As the burden of establishing that a record is required to be kept confidential or may be kept confidential is upon the public body or public official.

Best Regards,
1999 OK AG 55

From: Carter County Sheriff Office

Subject: RE: Oklahoma Open Records Act Request: UOF - Carter County Sheriff

Email

To whom it may concern -- Thank you for your response but I am a bit confused by your response. Please be clear there was never any challenge to your company or anyone else requesting documents. I fully understand the Oklahoma Open Records Act and a public entity’s obligations as I have long represented public entities. The purposes of my reaching out was to provide a status update and to try to have a contact person to seek clarification on some of the requests, if needed -- to help streamline any research and responses. As I read the requests and under the operating system in place at the Carter County Sheriff’s Office, the search will require the use of key words and then review of the documents to determine applicability to your request. I will advise you of the results of the searches once the documents have been identified and reviewed.

WELLON B. POE
COLLINS, ZORN & WAGNER, PLLC
429 NE 50th, Second Floor
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Telephone: (405) 524-2070
Facsimile: (405) 524-2078
E-mail wbp@czwlaw.com

From: 1999 OK AG 55

Subject: RE: Oklahoma Open Records Act Request: UOF - Carter County Sheriff

Email

Thank you, Mr. Poe!

The same request has also been sent to the Johnston County Sheriff's Office (https://www.muckrock.com/foi/johnston-county-26620/uof-johnston-county-oklahoma-133120/).

It has come to my attention that your firm often represents many, if not all, of the 77 Sheriff's Departments in Oklahoma. If this is true, and Johnston County Sheriff's Office is also a client of your firm, could you please reach out to your client and encourage them to comply with the Oklahoma Open Records Act, Title 51, Sections 24A.1-24A.22, as the office has yet to even acknowledge the request, and it was received on the same day as Carter County's request.

Thank you in advance!
Best Regards,
1999 OK AG 55

From: Carter County Sheriff Office

Subject: Oklahoma Open Records Request - Carter County Sheriff's Office

Email

To Whom it May Concern:

Attaches is a response to your Open Records Request from Wellon Poe, along with the documents.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

Thank you,

Dhana D. Anderson
Legal Assistant to Chris J. Collins, W. R. Moon, Jr.
and Stacey Haws Felkner
[cid:image003.png@01D8FE8A.EEBE23D0]
429 N.E. 50th St., Second Floor
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Telephone: (405) 524-2070
Facsimile: (405) 524-2078
Email: dda@czwlaw.com<mailto:dda@czwlaw.com>

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, I inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Notice: This e-mail message and any attachment(s) are intended only for the named recipient(s) above. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not review, retransmit, forward, print, copy, use or disseminate the email and/or any attachments. This email and any attachment(s) contain information which may be legally privileged, attorney work-product or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this message in error or are not the named recipient(s), please notify me at (405) 524-2070 or by return email and delete this e-mail message from your computer. If this email contains a forwarded email or is a reply to a prior email, the contents may not have been produced by the sender and therefore both I and/or Collins, Zorn & Wagner, PLLC are not responsible for its contents.

* * * * * * * * * * *
These notices are automatically appended to each e-mail. It is the recipient's responsibility to take measures to ensure this e-mail is virus free and no responsibility is accepted by either Collins, Zorn & Wagner, PLLC or me for any loss or damage arising in any way from its use.

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