Daniel and Wilda Davis Homicide Records (Hagerstown City Police Department)

Ms. Robinson,

I have received feedback from the City's Police Records Specialist regarding your request. She advised that the documents pertaining to the case you are seeking are in the neighborhood of about 6000 pages. Additionally, she estimates that it would take approximately 80 hours to retrieve and prepare (including any necessary redacting of) those documents.

With the first 20 pages provided free of charge, the estimated cost for the remaining pages would be around $1500. After the first 2 hours of time spent to make them available-which is free of charge-the next 78 would be billed at her prorated hourly wage of $20/hour-a total of $1560. Altogether, the complete estimate is $3060.

Please let me know if you wish to proceed or narrow your request in some way. Should you decide to proceed, a prepayment of a portion of the cost estimate would be required.

Sincerely,

Wes Decker
Communications Officer
City of Hagerstown
1 E. Franklin Street, #208
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
Office: (301) 739-8577 ext. 819
Cell: (240) 291-8878
wdecker@hagerstownmd.org<mailto:ewolfe@hagerstownmd.org>

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Ms. Robinson,

I was waiting for direction from the Police Records Specialist before I could attempt to answer your follow-up question. She responded that while asking for documents responsive only to part of the investigation would cut down on the number of pages, it is difficult to discern what your definition of "initial investigation" entails. She indicated that investigating a homicide adds different layers as discoveries are made and additional personnel become involved with the investigation. She suggested that if you were requesting only the first responding officers' reports, then that could be a much less expensive route to try; however, I'm not sure if that would give you what you're looking for.

Please let me know if that helps and/or if that's something in which you're interested. If so, I will attempt to have her provide an estimate of time required and documents associated with proceeding based on the narrower parameters proposed above so that the resulting cost can be calculated.

Sincerely,

Wes Decker
Communications Officer
City of Hagerstown
1 E. Franklin Street, #208
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
Office: (301) 739-8577 ext. 819
Cell: (240) 291-8878
wdecker@hagerstownmd.org<mailto:ewolfe@hagerstownmd.org>

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Ms. Robinson,

Sorry for the delay. I had to wait for the HPD Records Specialist to provide me with the particulars on her end relative to your request.

She informed me that there are 225 total pages of documents and that it will take her about 4 hours to prepare and produce.

As with any PIA request, the City provides the first 20 pages of material free of charge. Then, page #21 is $1.25 and all additional pages are $.25 each. In this case, $1.25 + $51 = $52.25.

Additionally, the first 2 hours of staff time required to fulfill a PIA request are free. After that, each hour is billed at the staff member's hourly wage. In this instance, that is 2 hours x $19.59 = $39.18.

The grand total is: $52.25 + $39.18 = $91.43.

Please let me know if you want to proceed. If so, I will provide you with payment options.

Thanks,

Wes Decker
Communications Officer
City of Hagerstown
1 E. Franklin Street, #208
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
Office: (301) 739-8577 ext. 819
Cell: (240) 291-8878
wdecker@hagerstownmd.org<mailto:ewolfe@hagerstownmd.org>

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Ms. Robinson,

I wanted to provide you with an update regarding the processing of your request.

The HPD Records Specialist informed me this morning that she has discovered that some of the pages that were included in the estimate that I provided you below have turned out to be duplicates. Therefore, there aren't as many pages as she initially thought. She continues redacting and readying the pages for your inspection, but her question is whether you want her to add pages (as you had stated that what had been agreed to was a starting point) beyond the original agreement to get to the 225. She believes there are going to be approximately 130 pages now for what we'll call "phase 1".

The check has been received, but it is still on my desk as my practice is to wait until the documents are in my possession before I would have it processed anyway. So, there are a couple of options. First, she could add pages (as mentioned) to get to 225. Or, once she's finished with the pages responsive to "phase 1" we can re-evaluate at that time. The additional question would then be what to do with the remainder of your payment. We could either retain it and apply it to your next request as a credit, or return the balance.

This is just such an old case that there aren't many in their positions at HPD who were there when it occurred. The Records Specialist simply pulled the two notebooks with the dates corresponding to the responding officers' reports without having any knowledge that what was included in one was duplicated in the other until she started reading through them and preparing them to fulfill your request. I apologize for the hiccup, but wanted to be completely upfront with you and let you know where things stand.

Please let me know what your preferences are regarding the questions above.

Thank you,

Wes Decker
Communications Officer
City of Hagerstown
1 E. Franklin Street, #208
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
Office: (301) 739-8577 ext. 819
Cell: (240) 291-8878
wdecker@hagerstownmd.org<mailto:ewolfe@hagerstownmd.org>

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Ms. Robinson,

Please find the first allotment of documents responsive to your request attached. (The second will follow).

Sincerely,

Wes Decker
Communications Officer
City of Hagerstown
1 E. Franklin Street, #208
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
Office: (301) 739-8577 ext. 819
Cell: (240) 291-8878
wdecker@hagerstownmd.org<mailto:ewolfe@hagerstownmd.org>

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Ms. Robinson,

Please find the second allotment of documents responsive to your request attached.

Sincerely,

Wes Decker
Communications Officer
City of Hagerstown
1 E. Franklin Street, #208
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
Office: (301) 739-8577 ext. 819
Cell: (240) 291-8878
wdecker@hagerstownmd.org<mailto:ewolfe@hagerstownmd.org>

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DISCLAIMER: All City of Hagerstown email recipients are cautioned that messages sent and received via the City's email system may be considered public record pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act and may be subject to inspection and copying by the public.