Police department misconduct allegations and disciplinary proceedings

Beryl Lipton filed this request with the Chatham Village Police Department of Chatham, NY.

It is a clone of this request.

Due Nov. 9, 2020
Est. Completion Aug. 13, 2021
Status
Awaiting Response

Communications

From: Beryl Lipton

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:

All materials and records describing and sufficient to show/disclose all allegations of misconduct made and all disciplinary proceedings taken against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency.

As described in the New York Freedom of Information Law, a record is "any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or for an agency or the state legislature, in any physical form whatsoever including, but not limited to, reports, statements, examinations, memoranda, opinions, folders, files, books, manuals, pamphlets, forms, papers, designs, drawings, maps, photos, letters, microfilms, computer tapes or discs, rules, regulations or codes." Records kept in a digital or electronic form are also records, would be responsive to this request, and should be provided.

These records are typically required to be retained under the New York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1 (http://www.archives.nysed.gov/records/retention_mu-1), including, but not limited to, item no. 365, which includes: "Investigative records and disciplinary proceedings, including but not limited to statement of charge, transcript of hearing, notice of decision, letter of termination or resignation, letter of reinstatement, record of appeal procedure, and correspondence." While materials under that schedule have a set retention of 3 years after the final decision rendered, this request and materials responsive to it include *all* records held in the possession of any office or individual employed or formerly employed by this policing agency, including those kept off-site, in digital form, and in personnel files.

Please note that any failure to provide all potentially-responsive materials and/or the destruction of materials potentially responsive to this request would be a violation of the spirit of the New York Freedom of Information Law, as well as unlawful under the New York FOIL and the terms of the attached litigation hold notice.

Materials responsive to this request include — but are not limited to — all complaints, reports, records of discipline and penalties, aggregate collections of complaint and disciplinary materials (spreadsheets, databases), investigatory materials, relevant related correspondence, photographs, video, other related evidence, proof of discipline or fulfillment of penalties, and all personnel materials (including those used in promotion, contract, and other employment negotiations and considerations) that reference or utilize misconduct allegations or disciplinary materials of any sort.

Materials responsive to this request include all complaints— internal, external, and civilian — and include records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident/complaint: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the investigation, investigatory materials, the disposition of the case, and any subsequent materials related to the execution of any resultant discipline. Responsive materials include all complaints and allegations against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency, regardless of whether that complaint or allegation resulted in any investigation or disciplinary action.

Responsive materials also include all records of use of force by officers, including records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the use of force, subsequent investigatory materials related to the use of force, the disposition of any investigation into the incident, and any subsequent materials related to the use of force.

Please provide materials on a rolling basis, beginning with materials created during the following timeframes:
• January 1, 2010 - June 15, 2020
• January 1, 2000 - January 1, 2010
• January 1, 1990 - January 1, 2000
• January 1, 1980 - January 1, 1990
• January 1, 1970 - January 1, 1980

Pursuant to NYCRR Section 1401.5(c)(1), should any of this request be unclear or lack sufficient description for your office, please provide direction that would enable this requester to request records reasonably described. Please also note that the New York FOIL states: "An agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the request is voluminous or that locating or reviewing the requested records or providing the requested copies is burdensome because the agency lacks sufficient staffing or on any other basis if the agency may engage an outside professional service to provide copying, programming or other services required to provide the copy...." Please also see FOIL AO 19671, an Advisory Opinion from the Committee on Open Government [https://docs.dos.ny.gov/coog/ftext/f19671.htm].

If your office has questions about this request or would like to discuss it for any reason, please contact this requester via the contact email address provided and feel free to follow up by phone: 617-299-1832. This request is being submitted to each policing agency in New York as part of a collaborative project led by MuckRock and involving multiple other educational and journalistic partners and participants. For this reason, over the lifetime of this request, your agency may interface with individuals not listed on this initial communication.

This request is being made in the public interest by a news organization as part of non-profit (not commercial) journalistic work and research on behalf of the public. 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 and as part of the necessary negotiations for successful processing. As far as it is possible, please fulfill elements of this request 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,

Beryl Lipton

From:

Good Morning

This email is to inform you of our receipt of your FOIL request this morning as the FOIL Officer. Please be advised that I will review your request today and supply a date for availability of documentation, if possible. In the meantime, would it be possible to give me an initial time frame for information as this will be a big task to review all documents and provide them in a timely manner. It would probably make it easier for me to break the requested information into years instead of requesting everything at once.

Thank you for any assistance with this matter and please reach out to me with an clarification.

Debra Meyers
Village Clerk

From: Chatham Village Police Department

Good Afternoon

With regard to your FOIL request for records pertaining to the years January 1, 2010 - June 15, 2020, we anticipate information to be delivered on or before July 30, 2020.

Please acknowledge receipt of my email so that I may be sure of its delivery to you.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Debra Meyers
Village Clerk/Treasurer

From: Chatham Village Police Department

As you may be aware, a federal judge in the S.D.N.Y. issued an order on or about July 22 (since modified) barring release of police department personnel records. We understand the original order was modified to lift a restraint on a non-governmental entity that was not a party to the lawsuit, but we are not currently clear on whether governmental bodies are still subject to the order. To the extent any part of the order may still be in effect, we are also seeking to determine whether the order is specific to the New York City Police Department or is a bar applicable statewide and therefore applicable to the Village of Chatham. Our Village attorney is traveling for the next few days, but we expect to be able to resolve this promptly upon his return at the beginning of next week.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.syracuse.com/state/2020/07/judge-blocks-release-of-new-york-police-discipline-records-after-50-a-repeal.html%3foutputType=amp

Debra Meyers
Village Clerk/Treasurer

From: Chatham Village Police Department

The following is a response forwarded to your email yesterday regarding the FOIL Request.

On July 29, 2020:
Subject: Re: New York Freedom of Information Law Request: Police department misconduct allegations and disciplinary proceedings
As you may be aware, a federal judge in the S.D.N.Y. issued an order on or about July 22 (since modified) barring release of police department personnel records. We understand the original order was modified to lift a restraint on a non-governmental entity that was not a party to the lawsuit, but we are not currently clear on whether governmental bodies are still subject to the order. To the extent any part of the order may still be in effect, we are also seeking to determine whether the order is specific to the New York City Police Department or is a bar applicable statewide and therefore applicable to the Village of Chatham. Our Village attorney is traveling for the next few days, but we expect to be able to resolve this promptly upon his return at the beginning of next week.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.syracuse.com/state/2020/07/judge-blocks-release-of-new-york-police-discipline-records-after-50-a-repeal.html%3foutputType=amp

Debra Meyers
Village Clerk/Treasurer

From: Beryl Lipton

Hello,

I hope this message finds you very well. I last heard from your office in July 2020, and I'm hoping you can provide me with an update on where this FOIL request stands.

Thanks so much for your help.

Best,
Beryl

From: Chatham Village Police Department

Please be advised, I am no longer the FOIL officer for the Village of Chatham. I will forward this to the new Clerk Desiree Kelleher and our attorney.

Debra Meyers
Village Treasurer

From: Beryl Lipton

Hello, Ms. Kelleher —

I was informed in March that this FOIL request had been handed off to you for processing. Could you please confirm that it's been received and let me know if you have any questions about it?

Thank you very much for your time and help.

Best wishes,
Beryl

From: Chatham Village Police Department

Good morning-
This has been given to the Village attorney and I am waiting for his input.

Thank you,
Desiree Kelleher - Clerk
Village of Chatham

From: Chatham Village Police Department

This request has been forwarded to the Village Attorney and is awaiting response.

From: Chatham Village Police Department

I have received your request for update, and I am forwarding it to the Village attorney.

Thank you,
Desiree Kelleher/Clerk
Village of Chatham

From: Chatham Village Police Department

Hello, I have forwarded this request to the Village attorney for an update and will advise.

Thank you,
Desiree Kelleher/Clerk
Village of Chatham

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