Full GPS Disclosure

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Dear Cencom Kitsap 911 Public Records Officer,

Background for request:

July 2017 I made a request that started a thread of communication and record installments between myself and your agency. My request was for Port Orchard Police Officer Nathan Lynch’s departmental assigned vehicle #734 location data for a handful of dates and times.

Your agency’s response to not having those records in part was a suggestion that Officer Lynch might ‘turn off’ his MCT in order to avoid sending AVL data to Cencom servers. Also in part that the records have been destroyed.

The requested information has not yet been provided. I believe records responsive to my request do exist and you do have custody of them based on the following:

An officer disabling the (“Automatic Vehicle Location technology”) AVL technology in his police department assigned vehicle is clear misconduct and would be of public interest and concern before even considering that an officer joy-riding in his departmentally assigned vehicle while off duty is doing so at public expense and that in itself is illegal. See Port Orchard Police Department (“POPD”) General Order 1920 (states “employees are forbidden from disabling AVL technology”); see also POPD General Order 2030 (states “no police vehicle shall be drive to a private residence” except as part of an official police function).

Initial records from this request were incomplete; files did not include GPS/AVL data for the specific time ranges requested. In follow up discussion, I was told the reason GPS/AVL data for Officer Lynch’s vehicle are missing is that the data is only recorded when the MCT unit is ‘on.’ This explanation contradicts records we have received showing GPS/AVL data for Officer Lynch during times when he was not signed in to his MCT.

Further, that explanation does not account for the absence of data which should then align with the MCT login data where we know the MCT unit was in-fact ‘on’ and Officer Lynch was logged in, but no GPS/AVL data was provided. The status of the MCT unit is verified by MCT log data provided by Kitsap County Administrative Services for the time period of May 2015 through March 2018.

Per your agency’s own explanation, Kitsap 911- Cencom should have GPS/AVL data which aligns with MCT log in data at minimum. When I pointed out the contradictions, I was told that the GPS/AVL data had been destroyed. It should not have been destroyed by the authority of your agency’s retention schedule nor considering RCW 42.56.100 which addresses the situation when a record scheduled for destruction is the subject of a pending request. The agency must suspend any planned destruction and retain requested records until the public records request is resolved that the request requires preservation of the data beyond the retention schedule.

The role Kitsap 911 Cencom serves is critical to public safety and is well respected and believed to maintain consistently high standards of moral and ethical conduct- as such, I am certain Cencom would never perpetuate a possible violation of the law by concealing or destroying records to prevent lawful disclosure. I do not believe Cencom would obstruct justice or inject themselves into a pending action by denying or concealing documents because they disclose the misconduct of another agency, office or individual while simultaneously burying the requestor in unresponsive documents in an effort to protect that agency, office or individual from accountability.

I ask that you conduct another thorough search for the records. We know the records do exist and your agency has custody of them. For your agency not to have them would be unlawful. The efforts of the agency to delay providing the requested records has wasted almost a full year of our time and been nothing less than an obstruction. I request they be provided to me without further delay. In the interest of time I have narrowed the scope to a handful of months.

Request:

I hereby request any and all documents that identify complete, around the clock, un-redacted, raw AVL/GPS/AVL DATA in its original digital format for Port Orchard Police Department Vehicle assigned to Officer Nathan Lynch Badge # 734 for the following dates:

The full Month of:

September 2015 October 2015

November 2015 February 2016

June 2016 August 2016

February 2017 March 2017

It is believed that the officers’ residence has changed prior to or since the date on the last record requested, as such there should be no need for any redactions whatsoever. Time is of the essence as this is a matter of public importance.

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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Penny Allen

Subject: Washington Public Records Act Request: Full GPS Disclosure

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Dear Cencom Kitsap 911 Public Records Officer,

Background for request:

July 2017 I made a request that started a thread of communication and record installments between myself and your agency. My request was for Port Orchard Police Officer Nathan Lynch’s departmental assigned vehicle #734 location data for a handful of dates and times.

Your agency’s response to not having those records in part was a suggestion that Officer Lynch might ‘turn off’ his MCT in order to avoid sending AVL data to Cencom servers. Also in part that the records have been destroyed.

The requested information has not yet been provided. I believe records responsive to my request do exist and you do have custody of them based on the following:

An officer disabling the (“Automatic Vehicle Location technology”) AVL technology in his police department assigned vehicle is clear misconduct and would be of public interest and concern before even considering that an officer joy-riding in his departmentally assigned vehicle while off duty is doing so at public expense and that in itself is illegal. See Port Orchard Police Department (“POPD”) General Order 1920 (states “employees are forbidden from disabling AVL technology”); see also POPD General Order 2030 (states “no police vehicle shall be drive to a private residence” except as part of an official police function).

Initial records from this request were incomplete; files did not include GPS/AVL data for the specific time ranges requested. In follow up discussion, I was told the reason GPS/AVL data for Officer Lynch’s vehicle are missing is that the data is only recorded when the MCT unit is ‘on.’ This explanation contradicts records we have received showing GPS/AVL data for Officer Lynch during times when he was not signed in to his MCT.

Further, that explanation does not account for the absence of data which should then align with the MCT login data where we know the MCT unit was in-fact ‘on’ and Officer Lynch was logged in, but no GPS/AVL data was provided. The status of the MCT unit is verified by MCT log data provided by Kitsap County Administrative Services for the time period of May 2015 through March 2018.

Per your agency’s own explanation, Kitsap 911- Cencom should have GPS/AVL data which aligns with MCT log in data at minimum. When I pointed out the contradictions, I was told that the GPS/AVL data had been destroyed. It should not have been destroyed by the authority of your agency’s retention schedule nor considering RCW 42.56.100 which addresses the situation when a record scheduled for destruction is the subject of a pending request. The agency must suspend any planned destruction and retain requested records until the public records request is resolved that the request requires preservation of the data beyond the retention schedule.

The role Kitsap 911 Cencom serves is critical to public safety and is well respected and believed to maintain consistently high standards of moral and ethical conduct- as such, I am certain Cencom would never perpetuate a possible violation of the law by concealing or destroying records to prevent lawful disclosure. I do not believe Cencom would obstruct justice or inject themselves into a pending action by denying or concealing documents because they disclose the misconduct of another agency, office or individual while simultaneously burying the requestor in unresponsive documents in an effort to protect that agency, office or individual from accountability.

I ask that you conduct another thorough search for the records. We know the records do exist and your agency has custody of them. For your agency not to have them would be unlawful. The efforts of the agency to delay providing the requested records has wasted almost a full year of our time and been nothing less than an obstruction. I request they be provided to me without further delay. In the interest of time I have narrowed the scope to a handful of months.

Request:

I hereby request any and all documents that identify complete, around the clock, un-redacted, raw AVL/GPS/AVL DATA in its original digital format for Port Orchard Police Department Vehicle assigned to Officer Nathan Lynch Badge # 734 for the following dates:

The full Month of:

September 2015 October 2015

November 2015 February 2016

June 2016 August 2016

February 2017 March 2017

It is believed that the officers’ residence has changed prior to or since the date on the last record requested, as such there should be no need for any redactions whatsoever. Time is of the essence as this is a matter of public importance.

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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Penny Allen

I can. When is a good time and where?

Ms. Tate,

This notice is to request extension of the preservation of the data as requested in the following previous requests:

Request dated: 03/28/2018

Good Morning Ms. Tate,
I anticipate you will preserve all the data I have requested as indicated in an email from you on 02/28/2018 when you confirmed that you are:

"preserving all data in your possession for the 5 SUV model vehicles operated by Port Orchard Police Department vehicles identified as assigned to Officers: Wofford, Brandon, Pronovost, Lynch, and Jensen for the date range of May 2015 through September 24, 2017."

Request dated: June 28, 2018.

I hereby request any and all documents that identify complete, around the clock, un-redacted, raw AVL/GPS/AVL DATA in its original digital format for Port Orchard Police Department Vehicle assigned to Officer Nathan Lynch Badge # 734 for the following dates:

The full Month of: September 2015, October 2015, November 2015, February 2016, June 2016, August 2016, February 2017, March 2017.

These requests have not been resolved.

Very truly,

Penny Allen