Fullerton, CA PD Citizen Complaints

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act (California Government Code §§ 6250), I hereby request the following records:

I am an Economics Professor in the College of Business at Ferris State University, and I am engaged in an empirical research project on police behavior and citizen complaints. This project requires me to request data from your department. If you have questions about my request or suggestions, I would be happy to discuss them with you.

1. What is the total number of citizen complaints (allegations of misconduct) made against your department’s officers annually for the last 10 years? If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated).

2. What is the total number of complaints police officers made against their peer officers in department annually for the last 10 years? If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated).

3. What is the total number of calls for service your department received annually for the past 10 years? If your department logs calls for service in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

4. What is the annual number of officers involved in shootings in your department for the past 10 years? Any documentation or reports that detail the annual number of officer-involved shootings in your department for the past 10 years would be sufficient.

Please include documentation regarding how many of these officer-involved shootings involved disciplinary action. (Please list officer firearm discharge directed at a person separately from a shooting involving an animal and separately from accidental firearm discharges).

Please include the number of officer-involved shootings resulting in discipline.

5. Which of the above data are published publicly? Please provide a link to any and all publicly available reports containing the data above.

Collecting this information is very important to my research, so I would like to emphasize, if you have questions about my request or suggestions, I would be happy to discuss them with you.

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 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Hello Sgt. Arana,

Thank you for the prompt response to our request. I understand the request is extensive and will require some time to complete. Please keep me updated.

Respectfully, Alex Cartwright

Hello,

Thank you for the response.

As request in #1, I need to know the total complaints "per year" in the last ten years. For example 25 in 2007, 26 in 2008 etc., You have only provided the total number of complaints over all 10 years. Can you please clarify how many complaints transpired each year.

Regarding item 2, some departments call the item I am looking for "internal" complaints. How many internal complaints were there in your department, per year, during each year in the last 10 years (for example, 2 in 2009, 10 in 2010 etc).

Thank you very much for what you have provided thus far- it is very helpful!
Alex Cartwright

Thank you Sgt. Arana. I just want to confirm: is it true that Fullerton CA PD does not keep any records on "internal" complaints?

Thank you. -Alex Cartwright

By internal complaints, I mean ANY complaint made by one department personnel against another department personnel.

I am writing to follow up on my original request made on 8/10/17

Thank you very much for providing the information we requested. I am writing to ask for some clarification regarding the data on officer-involved shootings you provided us with. What constitutes an officer-involved shooting in your department? For example, some departments do not count misses while others count all discharges; some include shots at animals. Other departments include intentional and accidental shootings; others do not. Some include all discharges and some exclude missed shots. Please explain to us how your department classifies the OIS included in the numbers you sent to us.

Very Respectfully, Alex Cartwright

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer