Police department misconduct allegations and disciplinary proceedings
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | June 18, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Beryl Lipton
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
All materials and records describing and sufficient to show/disclose all allegations of misconduct made and all disciplinary proceedings taken against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency.
As described in the New York Freedom of Information Law, a record is "any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or for an agency or the state legislature, in any physical form whatsoever including, but not limited to, reports, statements, examinations, memoranda, opinions, folders, files, books, manuals, pamphlets, forms, papers, designs, drawings, maps, photos, letters, microfilms, computer tapes or discs, rules, regulations or codes." Records kept in a digital or electronic form are also records, would be responsive to this request, and should be provided.
These records are typically required to be retained under the New York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1 (http://www.archives.nysed.gov/records/retention_mu-1), including, but not limited to, item no. 365, which includes: "Investigative records and disciplinary proceedings, including but not limited to statement of charge, transcript of hearing, notice of decision, letter of termination or resignation, letter of reinstatement, record of appeal procedure, and correspondence." While materials under that schedule have a set retention of 3 years after the final decision rendered, this request and materials responsive to it include *all* records held in the possession of any office or individual employed or formerly employed by this policing agency, including those kept off-site, in digital form, and in personnel files.
Please note that any failure to provide all potentially-responsive materials and/or the destruction of materials potentially responsive to this request would be a violation of the spirit of the New York Freedom of Information Law, as well as unlawful under the New York FOIL and the terms of the attached litigation hold notice.
Materials responsive to this request include — but are not limited to — all complaints, reports, records of discipline and penalties, aggregate collections of complaint and disciplinary materials (spreadsheets, databases), investigatory materials, relevant related correspondence, photographs, video, other related evidence, proof of discipline or fulfillment of penalties, and all personnel materials (including those used in promotion, contract, and other employment negotiations and considerations) that reference or utilize misconduct allegations or disciplinary materials of any sort.
Materials responsive to this request include all complaints— internal, external, and civilian — and include records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident/complaint: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the investigation, investigatory materials, the disposition of the case, and any subsequent materials related to the execution of any resultant discipline. Responsive materials include all complaints and allegations against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency, regardless of whether that complaint or allegation resulted in any investigation or disciplinary action.
Responsive materials also include all records of use of force by officers, including records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the use of force, subsequent investigatory materials related to the use of force, the disposition of any investigation into the incident, and any subsequent materials related to the use of force.
Please provide materials on a rolling basis, beginning with materials created during the following timeframes:
• January 1, 2010 - June 15, 2020
• January 1, 2000 - January 1, 2010
• January 1, 1990 - January 1, 2000
• January 1, 1980 - January 1, 1990
• January 1, 1970 - January 1, 1980
Pursuant to NYCRR Section 1401.5(c)(1), should any of this request be unclear or lack sufficient description for your office, please provide direction that would enable this requester to request records reasonably described. Please also note that the New York FOIL states: "An agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the request is voluminous or that locating or reviewing the requested records or providing the requested copies is burdensome because the agency lacks sufficient staffing or on any other basis if the agency may engage an outside professional service to provide copying, programming or other services required to provide the copy...." Please also see FOIL AO 19671, an Advisory Opinion from the Committee on Open Government [https://docs.dos.ny.gov/coog/ftext/f19671.htm].
If your office has questions about this request or would like to discuss it for any reason, please contact this requester via the contact email address provided and feel free to follow up by phone: 617-299-1832. This request is being submitted to each policing agency in New York as part of a collaborative project led by MuckRock and involving multiple other educational and journalistic partners and participants. For this reason, over the lifetime of this request, your agency may interface with individuals not listed on this initial communication.
This request is being made in the public interest by a news organization as part of non-profit (not commercial) journalistic work and research on behalf of the public. 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 and as part of the necessary negotiations for successful processing. As far as it is possible, please fulfill elements of this request 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,
Beryl Lipton
From: Lockport City Police Department
An acknowledgement letter, stating the request is being processed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. 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: Lockport City Police Department
An acknowledgement letter, stating the request is being processed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. 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: Lockport City Police Department
To Whom It May Concern:
Attached is your most recent follow up (dated July 13th, 2020) to the
initial FOIL request of June 18th, 2020. Also attached is the response sent
by this office to MuckRock on June 26th, 2020. This should provide
clarification.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Muckrock Staff
Hello Mr. Oates,
Thank you so much for your message. I understand that resources, including time, may be scarce at the moment, and I would be happy to discuss the materials and necessary search with your team or address any questions you may have. Please let me know. I'll look forward to hearing from you again in the fall, and I wish you the best until then.
Warmly,
Beryl
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 1, 2020. 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: Lockport City Police Department
Good morning,
Thank you for following up. I have checked with the office responsible for fulfilling this request, and it is going to take longer than originally anticipated. It is being handled by an office with only one employee, and your request involves a great deal of information. We will make every effort to forward the requested records before the close of 2020.
Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 1, 2020. 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: Lockport City Police Department
Good morning,
Please refer to my response of Oct. 6th, 2020 (in the email stream below). Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Mr. Oates,
I hope this message finds you well. I'm wondering whether you could please provide an estimated completion date for this request. I last heard from your office in October 2020. At that time, your office indicated that I could expect another response by the end of the year.
I understand that it may take a while longer to process this FOIL, but having a realistic sense of when the request will be completed will help me to avoid unnecessary follow-up messages.
Thanks so much for your help.
Best,
Beryl
From: Lockport City Police Department
Good afternoon,
We appreciate your patience with respect to this FOIL. Unfortunately, because of the volume of the records involved, and the fact that they are not readily accessible given their age, we will need another three months to fulfill your request.
With regard to a separate FOIL request made in August 2020, we will soon provide additional records. The ‘Use of Force Data’ from that request is nearly complete and will be forwarded to you soon.
Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 1, 2020. 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: Lockport City Police Department
Good morning,
I would refer you to my response of March 29, 2021:
“We appreciate your patience with respect to this FOIL. Unfortunately, because of the volume of the records involved, and the fact that they are not readily accessible given their age, we will need another three months to fulfill your request.”
Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 1, 2020. 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: Lockport City Police Department
Please reference the response (below) given on April 13th. Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You previously indicated that it would be completed on July 13, 2021. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on July 13, 2021. 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: Lockport City Police Department
Good afternoon,
The City of Lockport is in the process of compiling a portion of your request. We anticipate having a partial response to your FOIL by September 30th.
Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Lockport City Police Department
To: Beryl Lipton, MuckRock News
Please see the attached regarding this FOIL request.
Thank you,
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Lockport City Police Department
LPD files – 1 of 3
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Lockport City Police Department
LPD files – 2 of 3
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Lockport City Police Department
LPD files – 3 of 3. This completes the files (earlier count was inaccurate—it is 34 files, not 35).
Additionally, the following officers have no formal letters of discipline/complaint in their personnel files:
David J. Balduf
Miguel A. Bermudez
Marissa Bonito
Erica A. Herlofson
John F. Higgins II
Robert C. Holmes
Matthew K. Hurtgam
William E. Jones
Michael J. Litten
Travis A. Mapes
Justin S. O’Connor
Nicholas D. Palumbo
Anthony D. Pittman
David Pytlik
Marshall B. Taylor
Matthew T. Vosler
Curtis S. Waugaman
Daniel T. Wenner
Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Lockport City Police Department
Good morning,
One week ago today, Wednesday, Sept. 22nd, I forwarded the City of Lockport’s response to this request.
Did you receive those files?
Thank you.
Paul K. Oates
City Clerk
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello, Mr. Oates —
I hope you'll excuse my tardy response. I did receive the records you sent last month. I appreciate your diligent response very much, and I'll let you know if I have additional questions.
Thank you so much for your time and help.
Wishing you the best,
Beryl
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