Massachusetts police training data 2023-9-13
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
2023-0293 |
| Submitted | Sept. 13, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Sam Stecklow
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a public records request made via MuckRock under the Massachusetts Public Records Law, seeking records related to law enforcement officer training in this state.
This request is brought by Big Local News along with a collaboration of news organizations, including ABC Owned TV Stations, the Invisible Institute, KQED, MuckRock and other news organizations. Big Local News is a program of Stanford University’s Journalism and Democracy Initiative and helps journalists collect, process and analyze public data.
Please provide any of the following data points that may be maintained regarding police training conducted in Massachusetts within MMPTC's Acadis database, dating back as far as the information is maintained in an exportable format:
* Officer Acadis unique ID number
* MMPTC or other state unique ID number
* Officer’s full name
* Officer’s date of birth or, if not releasable, year of birth or current age
* Officer’s city and/or zip code of residence
* All information about each training undergone by officer, including initial basic training
* Date of completion of training
* Employing agency at time of training
If your training system contains co-located data elements not listed above, please include them in the response, provided they are releasable under the law. On the other hand, we recognize some of the information we are asking for may not be tracked by your system. If that is the case, we are willing to accept as many of the data elements as your agency maintains. If some records are more readily available, we are happy to receive partial information as soon as possible while the remaining request is processed.
In addition to the data elements listed, we request documentation necessary to understand and interpret the data, including but not limited to record layouts, data dictionaries, code sheets, lookup tables, etc.
Our preference is to receive structured data provided in a machine-readable text file, such as delimited or fixed-width formats. We can also handle a variety of other data formats including SQL databases, Excel workbooks and MS Access. If there are additional formats your agency would prefer to provide, please let us know.
We are seeking this information as a news media organization on a matter of public interest concerning the conduct of government. As such, we ask for a waiver of all fees, if allowed under state law. If fees are necessary to reimburse the agency for actual costs, we agree to pay up to $100. If costs exceed that amount, please let us know before fulfilling the request.
Please send clarifications and questions via electronic communication at any time. Thank you very much for your time and attention to this request.
Sam Stecklow
Invisible Institute
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Good Afternoon,
RE: Public Records Request Confirmation Receipt; MPTC PRR. No. 2023-0293
This email serves to confirm receipt of your public records request.
A response will be provided as soon as possible and within ten (10) business days. Based on the nature and extent of the request, the MPTC may first attempt to contact you for additional information or clarification, to discuss amending the scope of the request to allow for more prompt and efficient production of records, or to request additional time to produce the records requested.
This request has been assigned the following tracking number: 2023-0293.
If you wish to contact us further regarding this request, please email mptc.RAO@mass.gov<mailto:mptc.RAO@mass.gov> or reply to this email and include the above tracking number.
Sincerely,
MPTC Records Division
Municipal Police Training Committee
42 Thomas Patten Drive
Randolph, MA 02368
mptc.RAO@mass.gov<mailto:mptc.RAO@mass.gov>
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~WRD2993
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Hello,
After reviewing your public records request, we have determined that we are unable to provide you a data export with all of the following requested information. We cannot export a full list of every training conducted by the MPTC for each officer. If you could please clarify a specific training type or course, we could narrow our search for records to provide. Information like officer’s dates of birth and residency are exempt from public records request. The MPTC is not responsible for maintaining employment records for officers.
If you would like to schedule a time to discuss this in more detail, I would be more than happy to speak with you and attempt to identify a record or records of interest that can be produced. I can be reached by either number listed in my signature below or my current email address.
Thank you,
Eric
[Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee]
Eric J. Lederman
Records Analyst
Municipal Police Training Committee<http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/law-enforce/mptc/>
MPTC Acadis Portal<https://mptc-portal.acadisonline.com/acadisviewer/login.aspx>
42 Thomas Patten Drive, Randolph, MA 02368
Desk: 781-437-0342
Cell: 857-276-5617
From: Sam Stecklow
Hi Eric
I was referred to the MPTC by MA POST for historical data about what employers officers were with when they took a particular training. Does MPTC not maintain this whatsoever?
Thanks
Sam
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Hi Sam,
We do attempt to gather some employment information to use as an internal resource, but the employment data that does exist in our system is secondhand and often inaccurate. It is also not collected as part of our process for maintaining official training records. Any information that might exist is unreliable and not an official part of their training record, as maintaining employment data is not a designated function of our agency. Police departments themselves are likely the most accurate source of historic (pre-POST) employment data.
Let us know how you wish to proceed or if you would like to discuss this further.
Thank you,
Kaylee Baker
[cid:image001.png@01D9F21B.CC63ED80]
Kaylee Baker
Records Division Manager
Municipal Police Training Committee
Direct: (781) 437- 0341
42 Thomas Patten Drive
Randolph, MA 02368
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image001
From: Sam Stecklow
Hi Kaylee
Thanks for this clarification. We'd still appreciate the data that MPTC has, with all of these caveats understood.
Sam Stecklow
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Hello,
The challenge with this request is that training information for specific officers is linked to either: 1 -- each individual class offering, which would require manual exports from tens of thousands of classes to provide, or 2 – each individual officer’s training record, which would also require tens of thousands of manual exports. There is currently no export that would provide all trainings completed by all officers.
Would you be willing to amend the scope of this request?
Thank you and have a great day,
Eric
[Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee]
Eric J. Lederman
Records Analyst
Municipal Police Training Committee<http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/law-enforce/mptc/>
MPTC Acadis Portal<https://mptc-portal.acadisonline.com/acadisviewer/login.aspx>
42 Thomas Patten Drive, Randolph, MA 02368
Desk: 781-437-0342
Cell: 857-276-5617
From: Sam Stecklow
Hello Eric
Ultimately, what I am after is the employment history of officers; the trainings are a way to get at that (partial) information from MPTC. Is there a way to utilize the ad hoc export tool in Acadis to query information that would show basic information about each officer (ID, name, demographics) and their employers that are recorded in MPTC’s system?
I am happy to continue discussing the scope of the request and am open to suggestions about how to do so. Please let me know if you’d like to discuss over a call.
Thanks
Sam
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Hello,
We currently possess no record that includes historic employment information for all officers. POST would possess current employment information but likely not historic employment information. The agency or agencies most likely to possess historic employment information would be individual law enforcement organizations.
Please let us know if there is another record we could provide or if we should provide our formal response based upon your request for historic employment data not in our possession.
Thank you,
Eric
[Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee]
Eric J. Lederman
Records Analyst
Municipal Police Training Committee<http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/law-enforce/mptc/>
MPTC Acadis Portal<https://mptc-portal.acadisonline.com/acadisviewer/login.aspx>
42 Thomas Patten Drive, Randolph, MA 02368
Desk: 781-437-0342
Cell: 857-276-5617
From: Sam Stecklow
Hello Eric
Please call me at 415-272-3245.
Thank you
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Hello,
Would you be available to speak tomorrow any time between 8am-3pm?
Eric
[Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee]
Eric J. Lederman
Records Analyst
Municipal Police Training Committee<http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/law-enforce/mptc/>
MPTC Acadis Portal<https://mptc-portal.acadisonline.com/acadisviewer/login.aspx>
42 Thomas Patten Drive, Randolph, MA 02368
Desk: 781-437-0342
Cell: 857-276-5617
From: Sam Stecklow
Hello
Yes, I can do between 10am-1pm, or 2-3pm.
Thanks
Sam
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Hello Sam,
Per our phone conversation today, I want to confirm that this is a finalized list of fields that you are seeking as part of your public records request.
Remaining from your original request:
* Officer Acadis unique ID number
* MMPTC or other state unique ID number
* Officer’s full name
* Officer’s date of birth or, if not releasable, year of birth or current age
* Officer’s city and/or zip code of residence
* All information about each training undergone by officer, including initial basic training
* Date of completion of training
* Employing agency at time of training
Added to your request during our phone conversation on today’s date:
* Demographic information
Please let me know if this is accurate or if you would like to make any corrections.
Thank you!
Eric
[Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee]
Eric J. Lederman
Records Analyst
Municipal Police Training Committee<http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/law-enforce/mptc/>
MPTC Acadis Portal<https://mptc-portal.acadisonline.com/acadisviewer/login.aspx>
42 Thomas Patten Drive, Randolph, MA 02368
Desk: 781-437-0342
Cell: 857-276-5617
From: Sam Stecklow
Hi Eric
Thanks for this. I didn't realize I hadn't initially included demographic information beyond age; if it's maintained, even inconsistently, we'd appreciate it.
Your 10/04 email indicated that there were issues with producing the full mass of information about specific trainings. As the goal of this request is the (incidental) employment history, if there is information about the trainings that just cannot be provided through this process in this format, that is acceptable, and I ask you please just let us know what had to be withheld. On the other hand, whatever information can relatively easily be provided about each individual training, we would still appreciate for potential reporting uses in the future.
Thank you
Sam Stecklow
Invisible Institute
From: Municipal Police Training Committee
Good Morning/Afternoon,
In response your public records request #2023-0293, please find the attached letter and responsive records.
Sincerely,
MPTC Records Division
[Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee]
Eric J. Lederman
Records Analyst
Municipal Police Training Committee<http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/law-enforce/mptc/>
MPTC Acadis Portal<https://mptc-portal.acadisonline.com/acadisviewer/login.aspx>
42 Thomas Patten Drive, Randolph, MA 02368
Desk: 781-437-0342
Cell: 857-276-5617
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