Traffic Stop Records (Gainesville Police Department)
| Multi Request | Traffic Stop Records |
| Submitted | Aug. 12, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Brooks
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Florida Sunshine Law, I hereby request the following records:
Dear Public Records Officer:
We request raw data – in a machine-readable database or spreadsheet format such as SQL, CSV, XML, JSON, Excel, or Access files — on Traffic Stops. The time period of the data should cover the earliest date available in the Police Department or City databases through the date on which this request is fulfilled.
The data should include all disclosable fields, including but not limited to fields containing the following types of information:
• Officer First, Middle and Last Name
• Officer Shield Number / Employee ID / Unique System ID
• Officer Rank
• Officer Start Date/ Appointment Date
• Rank/ Squad Assignment Date (See Note)
• Status (i.e. Active, Retired, etc.)
• Officer Gender
• Officer Race/ Ethnicity
• Incident Location
• Incident Offense
• NIBRS Code
• Incident Date
• Incident Time
• Charge
• Charge Description
• Person ID (Subject ID)
• Subject First Name
• Subject Middle Name
• Subject Last Name
• Subject Date of Birth
• Subject Drivers License
• Subject Sex
• Subject Race
• Subject Age
• Incident ID
• Search Conducted
• Contraband Found / Search Result
• Disposition
• Vehicle Make
• Vehicle Model
In addition, we are also requesting all identifiers, primary keys, and/or metadata that distinguish between unique records and individuals, and that link the database tables together, including but not limited to Incident IDs, Person IDs, and [any other relevant fields you’re aware of].
We are also requesting any data dictionaries, code tables, or other types of manuals that define, in plain English, the meaning of the column headers in the data, and any codes, acronyms, abbreviations or other shorthand terms used for entries in the data.
We are asking for an export of raw data, to the extent maintained in the City’s or PD’s databases. We do not expect the City or PD to manually input or alter any information into the data for the purposes of fulfilling this request.
Redactions:
If a record contains both exempt and non-exempt information, the non-exempt information should still be provided: Because we are requesting data, each distinct type of information is separated into its own field (i.e. column), making it easy to redact exempt information en masse.
Location of the Data
We are not familiar with the City’s or PD’s databases which contain traffic records. However, pursuant to Flordia Law 119.01, which requires agencies to design record keeping systems “capable of providing data in some common format such as, but not limited to, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange,” so we are confident that these records exist.
Entitlement to Records as Data: We request these records in a machine-readable database or spreadsheet format — such as SQL, CSV, XML, JSON, Excel, or Access files — and not printed out, or converted to PDF files, or otherwise processed in a manner that would decrease the quality, quantity, or accessibility of the original information the records represent. We realize the information may be contained in multiple tables. We are not asking The City/ to join tables together for us, or to conduct any type of analysis on the data. We are merely asking for the department to export the raw data, as it exists in the department's database, which should minimize the amount of programming necessary to fulfill our request.
We can do the joining on our own, so long as each table contains the unique identifiers and primary keys necessary to join the tables together, and so long as we are provided the necessary documentation to ensure that we are accurately joining and analyzing the data.
We are comfortable working with very large databases in many standard data formats. Upon request, we would be happy to provide a USB thumb drive or external hard drive to facilitate the release of these records.
Other Provisions:
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,
Brooks
From: Gainesville Police Department
This communication confirms receipt of your request. A detailed response will be provided by next week.
Reggie
-
~WRD000
From: Gainesville Police Department
Brook,
The fulfillment of your request would require Communications identification of all case numbers related to traffic stops from 2004 (installment date of our current Records Management System (RMS) to present. Then we the police department would have to search for the reports corresponding to the case numbers given. Upon completion, these reports would have to be reviewed for possible redaction. Between 2017 and 2019, our agency completed approximately 36,600 traffic stops which is an average of 12,200. Since the implementation of our electronic RMS System in 2004, it is estimated that there could be as many as 168,000 traffic stops (yearly average of 12,200 times 14 years) made and corresponding reports generated during this timeframe. At a rate of reviewing 200 reports per hour, it would take a minimal of 840 hours to review 168,000 reports. This would amount to approximately $15,120 ($18 hourly rate time 840 hours of reviewing reports) in applicable fees. Due to the fulfillment of your request requiring extensive labor, an advance payment of $7,500 will be charged and paid prior to the commencement of further work. Florida Statute 119.07(4)(d) authorizes the imposition of a special service charge when the nature or volume of public records to be inspected is such as to require extensive use of information technology resources, or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance, or both. Your check or money order must be made payable to the "City of Gainesville" and mailed with the attached invoice to the following address: Gainesville Police Department, Attention: Reggie Wilson in Records Division, 545 NW 8th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32601. Once your advance payment has been received and production of your request is completed, you will be informed of the final costs associated with your request. Be advised that the cost and labor time required by Communications is not included in this email and will be charged separately.
Reggie
-
~WRD000
From: Gainesville Police Department
Brook,
The fulfillment of your request would require Communications identification of all case numbers related to traffic stops from 2004 (installment date of our current Records Management System (RMS) to present. Then we the police department would have to search for the reports corresponding to the case numbers given. Upon completion, these reports would have to be reviewed for possible redaction. Between 2017 and 2019, our agency completed approximately 36,600 traffic stops which is an average of 12,200. Since the implementation of our electronic RMS System in 2004, it is estimated that there could be as many as 168,000 traffic stops (yearly average of 12,200 times 14 years) made and corresponding reports generated during this timeframe. At a rate of reviewing 200 reports per hour, it would take a minimal of 840 hours to review 168,000 reports. This would amount to approximately $15,120 ($18 hourly rate time 840 hours of reviewing reports) in applicable fees. Due to the fulfillment of your request requiring extensive labor, an advance payment of $7,500 will be charged and paid prior to the commencement of further work. Florida Statute 119.07(4)(d) authorizes the imposition of a special service charge when the nature or volume of public records to be inspected is such as to require extensive use of information technology resources, or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance, or both. Your check or money order must be made payable to the "City of Gainesville" and mailed with the attached invoice to the following address: Gainesville Police Department, Attention: Reggie Wilson in Records Division, 545 NW 8th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32601. Once your advance payment has been received and production of your request is completed, you will be informed of the final costs associated with your request. Be advised that the cost and labor time required by Communications is not included in this email and will be charged separately.
Reggie
-
WRD000_WxONJTU
From: Brooks
Dear Reggie,
I appreciate the response. I would like to amend my initial request and instead ask that Gainsville PD provide me with with documents that list all the fields in the databases (RMS) used to track information on major crimes, and traffic stops. If available provide resources that outline how this database functions, such as data dictionaries, record layouts, and user guides.
Best,
Brooks
From: Gainesville Police Department
I have attached sample reports which may be generated as a result of a traffic stop or a crime reported/committed and the resource materials we possess. You can obtain additional information about the RMS System configuration by contacting our vendor Central Square 800-727-8088. https://www.centralsquare.com/ is their official website where more contact information is located.
Reggie
From: Brooks
Thanks, Reggie.
I appreciate the quick response.
Brooks
From: Brooks
Dear Reggie,
Again I appreciate the documents above. Would you please provide me with the fields that may contain predictable information and on what grounds a redaction might be made?
Best,
Brooks
From: Gainesville Police Department
Brooks,
Please clarify what you mean by “predictable information” your request. The documents provided reflect the fields required by officers to complete a report and I’m not aware of any fields which predicts a certain outcome other than the narrative section which justifies the conclusive action taken. Although the asking of questions doesn’t constitute a public records request, I will say there are many reasons for information to be redacted such as identifiable information for certain juveniles, victims of certain crimes, and offender’s statements. The status of a case would also impact whether or not information is releasable to the public. While the Florida Constitution gives other exemptions, we ordinarily justify the redacted information at the time the requested information is being withheld.
Reggie
-
~WRD000
From: Brooks
Apologies. Predicatable was a typo. The correction is below:
Would you please provide me with the fields that may contain information which may need to be redacted and on what grounds a redaction might be made? Certainly not all fields or information collected by your department and stored in your RMS requires manual redaction.
Best,
Brooks
From: Gainesville Police Department
Brooks,
This is not a public records request. In my previous email, I provided a few examples.
Reggie
-
~WRD000
From: Brooks
Dear Reggie,
Pursuant to section 119.07(1)(e), F.s., any custodian of a public record who contends that a record or part of a record is exempt from inspection must state the basis for the exemption, including the statutory citation to the exemption. I am still unclear as to what redactions might need to be made in from the original data request as I am not interested in any records part of a current or ongoing investigation. In the previous email you provided no material examples of exempt information.
Thanks again,
Brooks
From: Gainesville Police Department
Brooks,
The examples given in my previous email were that in some cases identifiable information pertaining to juveniles and victims of certain crimes as well as offender’s statements are redacted. If a case is pending prosecutions or investigation, limited information would be provided. It’s not possible to provide a conclusive list of all possible exemptions without knowing the facts of each incident. I’ve provided you examples of various types of reports (see attached) generated by officers from our Records Management Systems which represent all available fields for those reports. Additionally, the user manual provided gives descriptive information regarding these report fields. Feel free to contact me directly at 352-393-7549 for further discussion or clarification.
Reggie
From: Brooks
Dear Reggie,
I understand the exemptions, however nothing that I am asking for is exempt. To clarify, I am asking for:
- a personal identifier (used throughout the system - a unique id for each person)
- the date of the stop
- the location of the stop
- the race of the person stopped
- the outcome of the stop (search/no search)
- the disposition
- the sex of the person stopped
Pursuant to florida state law 119.07(4). your agency is required to maintain a database which can export this information. I am not asking you to create new data, nor am I asking for you to sort through individual records. Please let me know if this clarifies things. Furthermore, I can see from your RMS manual that the exportation of data is possible. If there are still fees for this project please provide an itemized invoice.
Much appreciated.
Brooks
From: Brooks
Dear Reggie,
I appreciate the phone call. As we discussed I am would like data on citations for the past 5 years in an excel document that contains the following information:
-Full name
- date of birth
- race
- sex
- date of stop
- time of stop
- location of stop
- offense description ( it is worded in the citation as "comments pertaining to offense")
- statute
If possible please include
-drivers license number
Best,
Brooks
From: Gainesville Police Department
Hello Brooks,
I appreciate you speaking with me on Tuesday to clarify your request. Once your request has been completed, I will contact you.
Reggie
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~WRD000
From: Brooks
Thank you, Reggie.
From: Gainesville Police Department
Brook,
Attached is the information requested.
Reggie
From: Brooks
Thanks, Reggie.
Much appreciated.
Brooks
From: Brooks
Thanks Reggie,
As we just discussed over the phone I would like the 1) ethnicity column and 2) citation number for all 104,829 entries covering the past 5 years.
Again, much appreciated.
Brooks
From: Gainesville Police Department
Brooks,
IT was able to include ethnicity into the excel document provided previously.
Reggie
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