Use of force reports Mississippi capitol police (Mississippi Capitol Police)
| Multi Request | Use of force reports Mississippi capitol police |
| Submitted | March 10, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Oliver Laughland
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Mississippi Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All use of force and incident reports filed by officers of the Mississippi Capitol police from January 1st 2021 to March 10 2023 in which officers have discharged a firearms.
All use of force and incident reports filed by officers of the Mississippi Capitol police from January 1st 2021 to March 10 2023 in which officers have discharged a taser.
All use of force and incident reports filed by officers of the Mississippi Capitol police from January 1st 2021 to March 10 2023 in which officers have discharged pepper spray.
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,
Oliver Laughland
From: Mississippi Capitol Police
Mr. Laughland,
We have received your request and expect to have a response on or before close of business, Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
Respectfully,
R.E. Wentworth
Public Records Administrator
MS Dept. of Public Safety, Legal Dept.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Mississippi Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 14, 2023. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on March 28, 2023. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Mississippi Capitol Police
Mr. Laughland,
Thank you for following up. Apologies for missing the deadline on this one. We are currently working on the information responsive to your request. We think we will have a response by end of week or Monday at the latest.
Respectfully,
R.E. Wentworth
Public Records Administrator
MS Dept. of Public Safety, Legal Dept.
From: Mississippi Capitol Police
Mr. Laughland,
Pursuant to the provisions of Miss. Code Ann. §25-61-12(2)(a) and Miss. Code Ann. §25-61-3(f) investigative reports are not subject to disclosure through public records requests. Use of Force Reports are investigative reports. Therefore, we cannot provide the information requested.
Mississippi Code Annotated section 25-61-12 states that investigative reports in the possession of a law enforcement agency shall be exempt from production under the Mississippi Public Records Act. The “law enforcement agency, in its discretion, may choose to make public all or any part of any investigative report. Further, Section 25-61-12(c) states that only “[a]n incident report shall be a public record.” Miss. Code Ann. section 25-61-3(e) defines “incident report” as “a narrative description, if such narrative description exists and if such narrative description does not contain investigative information, of an alleged offense, and at a minimum shall include the name and identification of each person charged with and arrested for the alleged offense, the time, date and location of the alleged offense, and the property involved, to the extent the information is known.” Section 25-61-3(f) contains a non-exhaustive list of information which constitutes part of a law enforcement agency’s “investigative report(s).” This includes “records that are compiled in the process of detecting and investigating any unlawful activity or alleged unlawful activity, the disclosure of which would harm the investigation. . .; records that would reveal the identity of informants and/or witnesses; and records that would prematurely release information that would impede the public body's enforcement, investigative or detection efforts.” Also, personal information of victims are exempt from production under the Mississippi Public Records Act, under Miss. Code Ann. section 25-61-12(3).
Respectfully,
R.E. Wentworth
Public Records Administrator
MS Dept. of Public Safety, Legal Dept.
From: Mississippi Capitol Police
Mr. Laughland,
Thank you for the phone call.
To recap our conversation, we are refining the request for all Capitol PD OIS cases worked by MBI from July 1, 2021, to present.
Please see the attached first four redacted incident reports as a show of good faith regarding this refined request.
Respectfully,
R.E. Wentworth
Public Records Administrator
MS Dept. of Public Safety, Legal Dept.
From: Mississippi Capitol Police
Mr. Laughland,
I was rushing to get you an email while we were on the phone and failed to provide clarity for the incident reports regarding redactions being done to remove personal identifying information of witnesses and victims which is done pursuant to:
* Miss. Code Ann. §25-61-3(f) and Miss. Code Ann. §25-61-12(2): “Investigative reports”
* Miss. Code Ann. §25-61-12(3): personal information of victims
Please see the below statute authorizing the MBI to investigation all OIS cases in the State of MS:
§ 45-1-6. Special contract agents authorized; powers; qualifications; form of contract; agents not considered employees of Mississippi Bureau of Investigation; investigation of certain incidents of officer-involved shootings.
1. The Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is authorized to retain on a contractual basis such persons as he shall deem necessary to detect and apprehend violators of the criminal statutes of this state.
2. Those persons contracting with the Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation pursuant to subsection (1) shall be known and hereinafter referred to as “special contract agents.”
3. The investigative services provided for in this section shall be designed to support law enforcement efforts of state agencies and to support local law enforcement efforts.
4. Special contract investigators shall have all powers necessary and incidental to the fulfillment of their contractual obligations, including the power of arrest when authorized by the Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
5. No person shall be a special contract investigator unless he is at least twenty-one (21) years of age.
6. The Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation shall conduct a background investigation of all potential special contract investigators. All contract agents must meet the minimum standard requirements established by the Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training.
7. Any contract pursuant to subsection (1) shall be:
* Reduced to writing; and
* Terminable upon written notice by either party, and shall in any event terminate one (1) year from the date of signing; and
* Approved as to form by the Commissioner of Public Safety.
Such contracts shall not be public records and shall not be available for inspection under the provisions of a law providing for the inspection of public records as now or hereafter amended.
1. Special contract investigators shall not be considered employees of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation for any purpose.
2. The Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation shall have all powers necessary and incidental to the effective operation of this section.
3. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation shall have jurisdiction to investigate all incidents of officer-involved shootings, other than shootings involving one or more members of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, resulting in injury or death occurring in the state. However, the District Attorney in the jurisdiction where such incident occurred may designate another law enforcement agency to investigate the incident if the District Attorney determines that there is a conflict with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation or that other extenuating circumstances exist. The Attorney General shall designate another law enforcement agency or task force to investigate any incident of a shooting involving one or more members of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation resulting in injury or death occurring in the state. The Attorney General’s Office shall be exclusively responsible for presenting all officer-involved shootings resulting in injury or death occurring in the state to the appropriate duly empaneled grand jury and, upon indictment by a grand jury, prosecuting such matters.
4. Notwithstanding any other provisions contained in this section, all contracts authorized under this section and related matters shall be made available to the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration.
You will find a copy of the statute attached to this email.
After rechecking- the four attached Capitol PD OIS are the only four we have. Also attached are the five JPD OIS redacted incident report MBI worked from 2021 to current. Couldn’t be sure if you were looking at one agency or one area, and it serves no one’s interest for you to have to submit another request for information at hand.
All fees associated with this request have been waived.
If there is anything else with which I can assist you, please let me know.
Respectfully,
R.E. Wentworth
Public Records Administrator
MS Dept. of Public Safety, Legal Dept.
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