Milwaukee, WI PD Citizen Complaints

Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer filed this request with the Milwaukee Police Department of Milwaukee, WI.
Status
Rejected

Communications

From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Wisconsin's Open Records act, I hereby request the following records:

We are Economics Professors in the College of Business at Ferris State University, and are engaged in an empirical research project on police behavior and citizen complaints. This project requires us to request data from your department. If you have questions about this request or suggestions, we would be happy to discuss them with you.

1. What is the total number of complaints police officers made against their peer officers in department annually for the last 10 years? If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated).

2. How many officer-involved-shootings were there per year for the last 10 years in your department? Any documentation or reports that detail the annual number of officer-involved shootings in your department for the past 10 years would be sufficient.

Please include documentation regarding how many of these officer-involved shootings involved disciplinary action. (Please list officer firearm discharge directed at a person separately from a shooting involving an animal and separately from accidental firearm discharges).

Please include the number of officer-involved shootings resulting in discipline.

3. Which of the above data are published publicly? Please provide a link to any and all publicly available reports containing the data above.

Collecting this information is very important to our research, so we would like to emphasize, if you have questions about my request or suggestions, we would be happy to discuss them with you.

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 would request your response within ten (10) business days.

Sincerely,

Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

From: Records, Open

Hello,

We have receipt of your request dated 08/10/17 and it will be reviewed in the order in which it was received.

Thank you

From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Hello,

Thank you very much for the update. Thank you for accommodating our request. I look forward to receiving the data.

Respectfully,
Alex Cartwright

From: Records, Open

Hello,

We have receipt of your request and it will be reviewed in the order received.

Thank you

From: Milwaukee Police Department

Hello,

Be advised we went back to our August 10, 2017 requests and do not find a request from your agency.

Thank you

From: Milwaukee Police Department

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

I am writing to follow up on my original request made on 8/10/17

Thank you very much for providing the information we requested. I am writing to ask for some clarification regarding the data on officer-involved shootings you provided us with. What constitutes an officer-involved shooting in your department? For example, some departments do not count misses while others count all discharges; some include shots at animals. Other departments include intentional and accidental shootings; others do not. Some include all discharges and some exclude missed shots. Please explain to us how your department classifies the OIS included in the numbers you sent to us.

Very Respectfully, Alex Cartwright

From: Milwaukee Police Department

As indicated in your June 5th, 2018 email, we responded and provided the records you requested August 10, 2017. As for the rest of your request dated June 5th, 2018, I would suggest contacting our Public Information Office, Sgt. Efrain Cornejo at ecorne@milwaukee.gov

Your request is being denied because it is a request for information, and not a request for records. The public records law is designed to make existing record available to the public, subject to any required redactions. However, “the public records law does not require an authority to provide requested information if no record exists, or to simply answer questions about a topic of interest to the requester.” Journal Times v. City of Racine Board of Fire and Police Comm’rs. 2015 WI 56, ¶ 55, see also State ex rel. Ingrates v. Sch. Dist. of Sevastopol, 146 Wis.2d 629 (Ct. App. 1988) and Wis. Dept. of Justice, Wisconsin Public Records Law Compliance Guide, at 21 (Nov. 2015). Under Wisconsin law, a records custodian need not create a new record in response to a records request. Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(L).

Sgt. J. Kotarak
Open Records Section

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