ProPublica: Hate crimes data
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | Aug. 13, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Ken Schwencke
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Georgia Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Any database or other records of hate crimes or crimes evidencing bias of race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin or disability reported to or investigated by your agency since Jan. 1, 2010, including where available, but not limited to:
the incident number
date of the incident
whether the crime was against individuals or a business / property
number of victims
race or ethnicity of the victims
gender of the victims
the offense classification
the location of the incident
the bias motivation (anti-black, anti-muslim, etc)
I would like the records in a machine-readable, electronic format if possible. If the records are kept in another format, or kept individually, I would still like copies.
This request is made as part of the Documenting Hate Project, a collaboration involving dozens of news organizations, led by ProPublica. Coverage from the project is compiled at https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/hatecrimes#hatecrime-coverage. 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,
Ken Schwencke
From: Sydney H. Nix
Dear Mr. Schwencke,
Please be advised that my office is in receipt of your open records request. A copy of your request has been forwarded to the appropriate department(s) for retrieval of all requested documents. Pursuant to §O.C.G.A. 50-18-71(b)(1)(A), “…In any instance where records are unavailable within three business days of receipt of the request, and responsive records exist, the agency shall, within such time period, provide the requester with a description of such records and a timeline for when the records will be available for inspection or copying and provide the responsive records or access thereto as soon as practicable.”
Please note depending on the documents you have requested, they may be requested from divisions outside of this location. Because of this, you may experience a varying return time of a week or so. When and if these documents become available, you will receive a letter with any cost accrued.
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact Sydney Nix, Open Records Officer, at (678) 493-4172 or via email at csoopenrecords@cherokeega.com.
Respectfully,
Sydney Nix
Cherokee Sheriff’s Office
Central Records/Payroll
678-493-4172
From: Sydney H. Nix
Mr. Schwencke,
Pursuant to your request, we have done a thorough review of our files for information involving the above listed crime(s). After thoroughly reviewing our files, no records were found. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. §50-18-71(i), “No public officer or agency shall be required to prepare new reports, summaries or compilations not in existence at the time of the request.”
If you have any further questions or need additional information please feel free to contact my office at 678) 493-4172 or via email at shnix@cherokeega.com.
Respectfully,
Sydney Nix
Cherokee Sheriff’s Office
Central Records/Payroll
678-493-4172
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I spoke with him about it as well.. We don’t have anything listed in UCR as a hate crime and that goes back three years. I also spoke with Lt. Painter (gang stuff) and he agreed that we have not charged anyone that we could find with a hate crime in that time period. Of course, that is not to say that the District Attorney’s office hasn’t indicted someone for a crime such as he is requesting information on, but we haven’t made that charge.
Sgt. M. Kelley
Cherokee Sheriff’s Office
Public Information Officer
678-493-4117 Office
678-614-2342 Cell
mkelley@cherokeega.com
From: Ken Schwencke
Hi Sydney,
Thanks so much. Just to clarify, does the Cherokee County Sheriff not track incidents where crimes may have involved a bias motivation, or are they not kept in the format I asked about? I understand Georgia has no hate crimes law, though we have made this request to hundreds of agencies, and there have been a surprising number of agencies that track bias motivation of crimes despite no legal obligation to do so.
Appreciate any clarification,
Ken Schwencke
ProPublica
w: 917-512-0253
c: 561-756-6135
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Sydney H. Nix
As stated in previous email, we don’t have anything listed in UCR as a hate crime and that goes back three years. We also spoke with Lt. Painter (gang stuff) and he agreed that we have not charged anyone that we could find with a hate crime in that time period. Of course, that is not to say that the District Attorney’s office hasn’t indicted someone for a crime such as he is requesting information on, but we haven’t made that charge. You can contact the Cherokee County District Attorneys Office at (678) 493-6300 to receive information on a person(s) who has been indicted with a hate crime.
Respectfully,
Sydney Nix
Cherokee Sheriff’s Office
Central Records/Payroll
678-493-4172
Files
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