Firearm Project, Midland, TX
| Submitted | June 6, 2017 |
| Due | Aug. 16, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Brian Freskos
Dear Records Officer,
Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I am a journalist requesting the records described below from your law enforcement agency. I have broken the request into two parts for your reference:
Part 1) Stolen Guns
It is our understanding that law enforcement agencies keep detailed records about firearms that were reported stolen in their jurisdictions. This information is often held in an internal crime analysis and research database such as Versadex, which can be queried for specific property.
We are therefore requesting the following for each case of reported firearm theft in your jurisdiction from Jan. 1, 2010 to the present:
-- The serial number, make, model, caliber and type of each firearm that was reported stolen
-- The address of the reported theft
-- The name of the reporting party
-- The police report number and/or incident number for the firearm theft
-- The date the theft was reported
-- Any other columns available
I would appreciate if your agency provided this information in a spreadsheet or list. If a spreadsheet or list cannot be provided, please provide copies of the police reports, incident reports, or offense reports for each case of reported firearm theft during that timeframe.
Part 2) Property and Evidence Guns
It is our understanding that law enforcement agencies maintain detailed records about firearms that were seized, confiscated, recovered, found, turned in, or otherwise came under the custody and control of the department. These guns are processed and booked into Property and Evidence and details about each are entered into a database.
We are therefore requesting a spreadsheet of every such firearm entered from Jan. 1, 2010 to the present. If a spreadsheet is not available, please provide a printout of the data or any other format of records. The data should include at least the following:
-- The serial number, make, model and type of each firearm
-- The date on which the firearm was entered
-- The police report number and/or incident number associated with each firearm
-- The type of crime or incident involving each gun (e.g., homicide, robbery, assault, etc.)
-- Any other columns available
If a spreadsheet is available for either part of this request, we respectfully ask the department to provide the record layout and/or code sheet so that we can ascertain the meaning of column labels, acronyms and abbreviations, and distinguish between firearms reported stolen and those that were seized, confiscated, recovered, found, turned in, booked into property and evidence, or otherwise came under the custody and control of the department. If a spreadsheet is not available, please provide any and all other records that will yield the information we are seeking.
I am a member of the news media, a reporter with The Trace, a 501c3 nonprofit news organization headquartered in New York City. I am making this request using MuckRock’s public records request management service, which we use to file and monitor our public records requests.
We will be making information obtained from this request available to the general public and are not requesting it for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you informed me of the total charges before completing my request.
I would prefer the requested information be sent via an e-mail attachment if available, or a mailed CD-ROM if not. You can send any correspondence or records by responding to this email or sending them to my company email: foia@thetrace.org
If you require standard mail, we ask that you send correspondence and any records to our national headquarters at:
The Trace
Attn: Brian Freskos
428 Broadway, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10013
Thank you in advance for your help with this request. I look forward to receiving your response.
Sincerely,
Brian Freskos
(919) 522-6354
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 6, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Tammi Casey
Mr. Freskos
The information was released to you on June 16th and you acknowledged receipt that same day.
Respectfully,
Tammi Casey
Public Information Act Coordinator | City Attorney’s Office
O. 432-685-7257
[Signature]<http://www.midlandtexas.gov/>
[FaceBook-icon] <https://www.facebook.com/CityofMidlandTX> [Twitter-icon] <https://twitter.com/cityofmidland> [Youtube-icon] <https://www.youtube.com/user/CityofMidland>
City of Midland
300 N. Loraine | P.O. Box 1152 | Midland, TX 79702
From: Brian Freskos
Hi,
Yes sorry I forgot to mark this request complete. Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Brian Freskos
From: Brian Freskos
Hi Tammi,
We're in the process of formatting the data on firearms (attached) for analysis and I had a few questions about the Involvement Codes that I wanted to seek your help on answering:
RCN - Recovered-Custody: Does this mean that a gun that was previously reported stolen has now been recovered?
RCV - Recovered-Not in Custody(Owner Recovered): Were these firearms also previously reported stolen?
SAR - Stolen and Recovered: What is the difference between these firearms and other firearms that were recovered? Does the record -- date, case number, etc. -- pertain to the theft, or to the recovery? For example, if a gun marked Stolen and Recovered is listed with the date Jan. 1, 2017, is that the date the gun was stolen, or the date the gun was recovered?
SRR - Stolen, Recovered, Released to Owner: What is the difference between this and the other codes listed above?
From: Tammi Casey
Mr. Freskos
I apologize I will not have the answers to your questions. I will try to find out who at the Police Department can help you and get back to you with that information.
Respectfully,
Tammi Casey
Public Information Act Coordinator | City Attorney’s Office
O. 432-685-7257
[Signature]<http://www.midlandtexas.gov/>
[FaceBook-icon] <https://www.facebook.com/CityofMidlandTX> [Twitter-icon] <https://twitter.com/cityofmidland> [Youtube-icon] <https://www.youtube.com/user/CityofMidland>
City of Midland
300 N. Loraine | P.O. Box 1152 | Midland, TX 79702
From: Tammi Casey
Dear Mr. Freskos,
Attached is the City's response to your public records request received on September 05, 2017.
Tammi Casey
Public Information Act Coordinator | City Attorney’s Office
O. 432-685-7257
[Signature]<http://www.midlandtexas.gov/>
[FaceBook-icon] <https://www.facebook.com/CityofMidlandTX> [Twitter-icon] <https://twitter.com/cityofmidland> [Youtube-icon] <https://www.youtube.com/user/CityofMidland>
City of Midland
300 N. Loraine | P.O. Box 1152 | Midland, TX 79702
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From: Brian Freskos
Thank you Tammi! The remaining reports, can they be released with redactions?
From: Tammi Casey
Mr. Freskos
The City has requested an opinion from the Texas Attorney General as to whether or not portions of the information you requested are subject to disclosure. The City has released to you the information that is required be to released under the Texas Public Information Act.
Respectfully,
Tammi Casey
Public Information Act Coordinator | City Attorney’s Office
O. 432-685-7257
[Signature]<http://www.midlandtexas.gov/>
[FaceBook-icon] <https://www.facebook.com/CityofMidlandTX> [Twitter-icon] <https://twitter.com/cityofmidland> [Youtube-icon] <https://www.youtube.com/user/CityofMidland>
City of Midland
300 N. Loraine | P.O. Box 1152 | Midland, TX 79702
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