Ring partnership, Hammond
| Submitted | Aug. 12, 2019 |
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Communications
From: Caroline Haskins
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Indiana Access to Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Public reports state that this police department has partnered with Ring, which has a "neighborhood watch" app called Neighbors (https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/hammond-pd-adopts-smartphone-app-for-digital-neighborhood-watch/article_76c0cc72-9519-5f55-93a4-ec9bc8c41dee.html). Ring partnerships involve an exchange: Law enforcement gets access to Ring’s “Law Enforcement Neighborhoods Portal.” The Law Enforcement Neighborhood Portal is a way that police can request Ring camera footage from people that use Neighbors, Ring has a "neighborhood watch" app.
Therefore, I hereby request the following records — which would be in the possession of the Hammond Police Department:
1) All instructional materials, presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other guidance on the use of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app. This includes A) any notes taking during meetings that discussed the use of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app, B) any explanations (whether internally or externally generated) of how Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app work, and C) any other document that has been used to help explain the use of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app to any party, including internal documentation, public relations materials, and executive summaries.
2) A copy of any privacy impact assessments, use policies, standard operating procedures, data retention policies, legal opinions, warranties, non-disclosure agreements, contracts, liability waivers, insurance agreements, Requests for Proposals, Responses to Requests for Proposal, Memorandums of Understanding, Letters of Interest, usage policies, or informal agreements between the police department and Ring.
3) A copy of any funding opportunity announcements, grant applications and grantor status/progress reports, reports to legislative bodies, annual reports that mention Ring or the Neighbors app, as well as audit records, including but not limited to security audits of the software, misuse reports, and reports to oversight bodies.
4) Any digital communications including but not limited to emails and text messages) as well as documents, (including but not limited to PDF, word processing, excel, and slide documents) that mention Ring or the Neighbors app.
5) Any digital communications (including but not limited to emails and text messages) with Ring representatives.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. It will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE’s science and technology website (www.motherboard.vice.com).
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 7 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Caroline Haskins
From: Hammond Police Department
Hello, I have received multiple copies of this same request and have answered it. It appears this is from a new sender, however, so here are the responses.
Questions 1-3, we have none. The City of Hammond was the entity dealing with Ring, not the police department.
As for questions 4-5, we, unfortunately, do not have a very comprehensive history of emails and old emails are not archived unless there is a reason to keep them. In your case here, emails were not archived. I even checked individual officers emails to no avail. The officers involved also state that the majority of communication was done either in person or over the phone.
Some of the information you are requesting MAY be available through the City of Hammond City Hall but I cannot be sure of that and you will have to go directly through that entity.
Thank you for your patience and please let me know if there is any other way I can assist you.
-Lt. Kellogg
From: Caroline Haskins
Hi Lt. Kellogg! So based on the link that I provided, and based on my reporting on Ring partnerships generally, the police department specifically should have responsive documents to my request.
Based on my reporting, when a police department joins Neighbors, the police department is required by Ring to coordinate with the company on all press releases coming from the police department and the timing of those press releases. Can we hop on a phone call for 5 minutes today? I just wanna make sure we're on the same page.
Best,
Caroline
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Indiana Access to Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 12, 2019. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Hammond Police Department
I am attempting to look for the requested information. If found, it will go to the City Law Department. Our City attorney is Kevin Smith and he can be reached at (219) 853-6381 if you have any further questions.
From: Caroline Haskins
Thank you!
From:
Ms. Haskins:
I was forwarded your below APRA request form the Hammond Police Department. I am the corporation counsel for the Hammond Police Department and Ms. Levinson, cc'd herein, works on police legal matters for the city. I am writing to you with an update. Because the city does not have a central collection point for email we are attempting to track down electronic correspondence that would be responsive to your request. We will provide you with any responsive documents within a reasonable time, and I have updated our search to date below in red. Once that process is complete we will inform you of the ability to come to the police department and inspect the records (copies are 10 cents each) or we can attempt to make other arrangements. As you are aware, the department is not required under the Act to search generalized categories of information or general sources for information that may be responsive to a general request. Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions.
Kevin.
From: Caroline Haskins
Great, thank you so much!
From:
To: MuckRock News
On behalf of the Hammond Police Department, I am drafting a response to two FOIA requests that were forwarded by your organization; the first was made on or about July 1, 2019 by Louise Matsakis and the second was requested on or about August 12, 2019 by Caroline Haskins. I apologize for the delayed response but it took some time to gather all of the information requested given that we have no centra collection point.
Given that the two requests are somewhat intertwined and contain some overlap, is it acceptable for me to respond by uploading all of the information gathered into one centrally located portal?
On that same note, the portal designated for uploading our responses - originally send to Steve Kellogg - seems to have expired or possibly is just inaccessible to me. If you could, please forward me access to a portal so that I may get the digital communications relevant to your request to you.
If you wish to discuss this matter, please feel free to respond via email or call me at 219-769-1164.
Thanks!
Shana D. Levinson
Levinson & Levinson
Attorneys at Law
384 W 80th Pl.
Merrillville, IN 46410
219-769-1164
219-769-0337 (fax)
Attorney for the Hammond Police Department
This e-mail message and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, e-mail sent via the Internet can easily be altered or manipulated by third persons. For this reason, we do not assume any responsibility for changes made to this message after it was sent. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone (219-769-1164) or by electronic mail (s<mailto:jmccrum@eichhorn-law.com>hanalevinson@hotmail.com), and delete this message and all copies and backups thereof. Thank you.
From: Hammond Police Department
Dear Ms. Haskins,
In response to your August 12, 2019 FOIA request, attached please find links to all of the materials found in the possession of the Hammond Police Department that satisfy your inquiry regarding Ring/Amazon. If you have trouble opening any of the same (FOIA 1-7), please let me know.
I apologize for the delay. As indicated previously, there is no central location for these items and it took a while to gather the same.
Shana D. Levinson
Levinson & Levinson
Attorneys at Law
384 W 80th Pl.
Merrillville, IN 46410
219-769-1164
219-769-0337 (fax)
This e-mail message and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, e-mail sent via the Internet can easily be altered or manipulated by third persons. For this reason, we do not assume any responsibility for changes made to this message after it was sent. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone (219-769-1164) or by electronic mail (s<mailto:jmccrum@eichhorn-law.com>hanalevinson@hotmail.com), and delete this message and all copies and backups thereof. Thank you.
levinsonandlevinson@gmail.com<mailto:levinsonandlevinson@gmail.com> has shared the following PDF:
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