2018 Vigilant Data Sharing Information (Midlothian Police Department)

Dave Maass filed this request with the Midlothian Police Department of Midlothian, IL.
Tracking #

18-2-15

Multi Request 2018 Vigilant Data Sharing Information
Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Dave Maass

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/1 to 11), I hereby request the following records:

1) The names of agencies and organizations with which the Agency shares Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) data;
2) The names of agencies and organizations from which the Agency receives ALPR data;
3) The names of agencies and organizations with which the Agency shares “hot list” information;
4) The names of agencies and organizations from which the Agency receives “hot list” information;

This information is easily available within the Agency’s LEARN system. The simplest way to extract this data is to generate an “Agency Data Sharing Report” PDF file from within LEARN. To do this, a user may simply go to the “Sharing” section of LEARN and select “Output Report.” A CSV/XLS file containing these records would also satisfy this request.

The instructions for extracting this data is described on pages 62-63 of the LEARN Agency Manager Guide, which may be found at this link:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3860685-LEARN-5-1-Agency-Manager-Guide.html

An example of this record may be found at this link:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3936113-Palos-Verdes-Estates-Police-Department-Data.html

A number of other agencies have regularly determined the above information constitutes a public record and have provided an “Agency Data Sharing Report.” These agencies include:

Anaheim Police Department, Antioch Police Department, Bakersfield Police Department Chino Police Department, Clovis Police Department, Elk Grove Police Department, Fontana Police Department, Fountain Valley Police Department, Glendora Police Department, Hawthorne Police Department, Irvine Police Department, Livermore Police Department, Lodi Police Department, Long Beach Police Department, Montebello Police Department, Orange Police Department, Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, Red Bluff Police Department ,Sacramento Police Department, San Bernardino Police Department, San Diego Police Department, San Rafael Police Department, San Ramon Police Department, Simi Valley Police Department, and the Tulare Police Department.

We further request the following records

The aggregate number of “detections” (i.e. license plate scans and associated data) collected during 2016.
The aggregate number of detections collected during 2017.
The aggregate number of “hits” (i.e. times that a plate on a hotlist was detected) during 2016.
The aggregate number of “hits” during 2017.

This information is easily available within the Agency’s LEARN system. The simplest way to extract this data is to generate a “Dashboard Hit Ratio Report” PDF file from within LEARN. We would prefer the data for each year to be provided separately.

An example of this document may be found at: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3870802-Sacramento-PD-Hit-Ratio-Rpt-010112-051917-Redacted.html

The instructions for extracting this data is described on pages 78-79 of the LEARN Agency Manager Guide, which may be found at this link:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3860685-LEARN-5-1-Agency-Manager-Guide.html

The following agencies have regularly determined the above information constitutes a public record and have provided an “Dashboard Hit Ratio Report.” These agencies include:

Anaheim Police Department; Bakersfield Police Department; Chino Police Department; Clovis Police Department; Elk Grove Police Department; Fontana Police Department; Irvine Police Department; La Habra Police Department; Laguna Beach Police Department; Lodi Police Department; Sacramento Police Department; San Diego Police Department; San Ramon Police Department; and the Red Bluff Police Department.

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,

Dave Maass

From: Midlothian Police Department

Mr. Maass,

This email is written in response to your Freedom of Information Request received on February 19, 2018 requesting names of agencies and organizations with which our Agency shares Automated License Plate Recognition, receives ALPR data, shares or receives "hot list" information, aggregate number of detections collected in 2016 and 2017, and number of "hits" during 2016 and 2017.

We have conferred with the Police Department and they have provided the following information:

1. The Midlothian Police Department does not have an ALPR system, and therefore, are unable to provide any information.

1. With regard to "hot files", with whom our agencies share with and what agencies share with us, the request is too broad and no such report of data exists with the Midlothian Police Department.

However, to assist in obtaining the information you are looking for, our Chief of Police has advised that any agency in Illinois with "LEADS" access (which would likely be every Police agency) would have the ability to receive our "hot file" information. Their FOIA for that information could be directed to the Illinois State Police, LEADS Department.

Maria Kolacki
Freedom of Information Officer
Village of Midlothian
14801 S. Pulaski Avenue
Midlothian, IL 60445
708-389-0200 Ext 214

From: Dave Maass

Ms. Kolacki,

Thank you so much for the quick response. For clarification, it is possible that your agency does not have ALPR equipment but nonetheless has a Vigilant Solutions LEARN account for accessing other jurisdictions' ALPR data and data collected by private companies.

However it is possible that the records showing MPD with a LEARN account is indicating another jurisdiction with the same name. Would it be possible to just double check that MPD does not have a Vigilant LEARN account so that we may eliminate your agency from our list?

From: Midlothian Police Department

Mr. Maass,

We have confirmed with our Police Department and they have advised that Midlothian had an account to National Vehicle Locating Systems (NVLS) in 2013-2014 when the system was free. They began charging extensive fees in 2014 and we no longer have an active account. Your request is for data from 2016-2017, so therefore, we have no data because we did not have an account in those years. We are also unable to run a query for the years that we had access as we no longer have an active account for their database. With this information, I believe that you can safely say that the Village of Midlothian can be removed from the list.

For your information, there is a Midlothian, Texas and perhaps that is the Midlothian that shows up on your list as having this system.

Maria Kolacki
Deputy Clerk
Village of Midlothian
14801 S. Pulaski Avenue
Midlothian, IL 60445
708-389-0200 Ext 214

From: Dave Maass

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you for getting to the bottom of this for me.

I still may check with Texas to make sure. However, it may be that Vigilant has failed to close the account.

From: Midlothian Police Department

Mr. Maass,

This FOIA request (Control #18-2-15) was responded to on February 20, 2018 and a follow-up response on February 21, 2018. Our responses are attached as a pdf file. This FOIA request is closed.

Maria Kolacki, CMC
Freedom of Information Officer
Village of Midlothian
14801 S. Pulaski Avenue
Midlothian, IL 60445
708-389-0200 Ext 214

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