Use of Force policy and training materials (City of Newark)
| Submitted | May 14, 2015 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Jonathan Rudenberg
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to Delaware's Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All policies and training materials maintained by the Newark Police Department regarding use of force.
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 fees cannot be waived, 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 15 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Rudenberg
From: Shared Mailbox - City Secretary
Mr. Rudenberg,
Are you looking for the policies and training materials currently in use or for a specific date range or all polices and training materials on record as being used any time in the past? This will drastically affect the amount of time it will take to fulfill your request and the charges to be assessed.
Renee
Renee K. Bensley
Director of Legislative Services
City Secretary/Treasurer
City of Newark
220 South Main Street
Newark, DE 19711
302-366-7000<tel:302-366-7070> – Office
302-366-7067<tel:302-366-7067> – Fax
rbensley@newark.de.us<mailto:rbensley@newark.de.us>
-
~WRD000
From: Jonathan Rudenberg
Currently in effect/use, no need to search for historical documents.
Thanks!
From: Renee K. Bensley
Mr. Rudenberg,
In response to your 5/11, 5/13, 5/14 and 5/16 Freedom of Information Act requests, the administrative cost estimates for fulfilling your requests is below:
City Secretary's Office: 3 hours @ $43.59/hour = $130.77
City Manager's Office: 1 hour @ $29.25/hour = $29.25
0.5 hours @ $72.90/hour = $36.45
Police Department: 3 hours @ $24.05/hour = $72.15
2 hours @ $40.54/hour = $81.08
2 hours @ $29.25/hour = $58.50
2 hours @ $53.15/hour = $106.30
2 hours @ $50.52/hour = $101.04
2 hours @ $34.40/hour = $68.80
2 hours @ $58.40/hour = $116.80
Total staff administrative cost estimate: $801.14
IT Department 2 hours @ 51.02/hour = $102.04
Total IT estimate $102.04
Total administrative cost estimate: $903.18
Please note that the administrative cost estimate provided included only the six employees in the Police Department most likely to have e-mails related to the LPR request and if additional employees need to search their e-mail accounts, an updated estimate will be provided. The IT Department estimate only covers e-mail searches on the City staff side and not the Police Department, as the Police Department e-mail system is under the control of the State of Delaware and is not accessible to our IT Department. Additionally, as FOIA Coordinator for the City of Newark, I am exercising my discretion to aggregate these four requests with your two previous requests in regards to administrative costs as outlined in the City of Newark's FOIA Policy found here: http://cityofnewarkde.us/DocumentCenter/View/5272.
Please let me know if you wish to proceed with your FOIA requests or if you wish to modify them further. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office. Also, please note that this is an estimate of administrative fees for your FOIA request. If it is found that fulfilling your request takes more or less time than what has been estimated, your fees will be adjusted accordingly. Additionally, 50% of the approved administrative cost estimate for your FOIA request must be paid to the City before work on your requests commences. The balance of your fees due from the final cost minus your initial deposit will be required to be submitted to the City prior to the release of the documents pertaining to your request.
The deadlines for the City to fulfill your requests are as follows:
5/11/15 request (submitted after business hours): 6/2/15
5/13/15 request: 6/3/15
5/14/15 request: 6/4/15
5/16/15 request (submitted after business hours): 6/8/15
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Renee
Renee K. Bensley
Director of Legislative Services
City Secretary/Treasurer
City of Newark
220 South Main Street
Newark, DE 19711
302-366-7000<tel:302-366-7070> - Office
302-366-7067<tel:302-366-7067> - Fax
rbensley@newark.de.us<mailto:rbensley@newark.de.us>
From: Jonathan Rudenberg
Renee,
Thanks for your response.
The policy you linked states "When multiple FOIA requests are submitted by or on behalf of the requesting party in an effort to avoid incurring administrative charges, the City may in its discretion aggregate staff time for all such requests when computing fees hereunder."
I can understand combining the two subsequent requests for LPR details ("LPR processing notes" submitted on 2015-05-13 and "LPR contracts" submitted on 2015-05-16) with my previous request that resulted in the LPR policy in response.
However, combining my completely distinct requests ("Use of Force policy" submitted on 2015-05-14 and "FOIA log" submitted on 2015-05-11) is not reasonable. Those two requests are entirely distinct and should not be combined with any others. I'm happy to work with you to limit the scope of these requests, but combining distinct requests for completely different topics because they have the same requesting party is unreasonable. Sending separate requests for separate topics is not an attempt to avoid administrative charges, it's a standard practice for FOIA requests so that easier requests (for example the FOIA log) can be handled quickly and all parties can keep their tracking of requests accurate (as you note, the due dates for each request are different).
I respectfully request that you re-evaluate your decision to combine my distinct requests, as I am not trying to avoid administrative charges.
Regards,
Jonathan Rudenberg
From: Renee K. Bensley
Mr. Rudenberg,
After consultation with our City Solicitor, the decision to aggregate your requests stands. Please let me know if you would like to proceed with your requests, amend them or elect not to move forward. If you have specific requests regarding the breakdown of the charges in regards to which charges are associated with which requests in order to help with your decisions on modifying or refining your requests, please let me know.
Renee
Renee K. Bensley
Director of Legislative Services
City Secretary/Treasurer
City of Newark
220 South Main Street
Newark, DE 19711
302-366-7000<tel:302-366-7070> – Office
302-366-7067<tel:302-366-7067> – Fax
rbensley@newark.de.us<mailto:rbensley@newark.de.us>
-
~WRD000
From: Jonathan Rudenberg
Please provide a breakdown of the charges by request.
Thanks,
Jonathan
From: Renee K. Bensley
City Secretary’s Office: 3 hours @ $43.59/hour = $130.77 (0.5 hours – FOIA logs; 0.5 hours – Use of Force Policies; 2 hours – LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
City Manager’s Office: 1 hour @ $29.25/hour = $29.25 (LPR Contracts)
0.5 hours @ $72.90/hour = $36.45 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
Police Department: 3 hours @ $24.05/hour = $72.15 (Use of Force Policies)
2 hours @ $40.54/hour = $81.08 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
2 hours @ $29.25/hour = $58.50 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
2 hours @ $53.15/hour = $106.30 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
2 hours @ $50.52/hour = $101.04 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
2 hours @ $34.40/hour = $68.80 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
2 hours @ $58.40/hour = $116.80 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
Total staff administrative cost estimate: $801.14
IT Department 2 hours @ 51.02/hour = $102.04 (LPR Processing Notes/Contracts)
Total IT estimate $102.04
Total administrative cost estimate: $903.18
Renee K. Bensley
Director of Legislative Services
City Secretary/Treasurer
City of Newark
220 South Main Street
Newark, DE 19711
302-366-7000<tel:302-366-7070> – Office
302-366-7067<tel:302-366-7067> – Fax
rbensley@newark.de.us<mailto:rbensley@newark.de.us>
From: Jonathan Rudenberg
I withdraw this and all of my currently pending requests with the City of Newark.