NH police budget and employment data (Rockingham County) (Newton Police Department)
| Multi Request | NH police budget and employment data (Rockingham County) |
| Submitted | Sept. 8, 2021 |
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Communications
From: Granite State News Collaborative
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New Hampshire Right to Know Law, I respectfully request the following records related to this municipality's police department hiring, employment, and funding for the budget years 2000 through 2020:
BUDGET and FUNDING DATA - Records sufficient to show funding for municipal law enforcement offices and activities for the years 2000 through 2020.
If possible, please provide the itemized budget allocated for public safety and police department activities for each year, as well as records sufficient to show any additional funding received through other means, including but not limited to:
• funds for capital expenditures
• grants
• donations
HIRING and EMPLOYMENT DATA - Records sufficient to show the following data regarding police department employment for the years 2000 through 2020.
• The number of employed law enforcement officers (as defined by RSA 105-D:1). Please provide the date on which the provided numbers were accurate.
• Annual demographic information (age, race, gender) of law enforcement officers employed by this municipality
• Annual demographic information (age, race, gender) of any individual employed in a position of leadership within this municipality’s public safety or law enforcement department
If any of the requested information is available in aggregate form, provision of this aggregate information by year would likely satisfy this request. If there are any known caveats involved with the data and information your office is able to provide, I would really appreciate it if you could share them with me.
*Please note* that if any of the requested information is held by another office or agency, direction to the appropriate office would be greatly appreciated.
This request is being made on behalf of the statewide nonprofit Granite State News Collaborative. This request is not being made for commercial purposes. It is being made as part of a journalistic data collection effort to benefit news organizations and the public good throughout the State of New Hampshire.
If your office anticipates that fees associated with the processing of this request, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request be filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Please call 617-500-7123 with any questions about this request. If your call is not answered, please leave a message and your call will be returned as soon as possible.
I look forward to receiving your response to this request within five business days, as required by law.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I really appreciate your time and help.
Sincerely,
Beryl Lipton
From:
Beryl Lipton,
The Town of Newton has received and reviewed your RTK request letter dated September 9, 2021 that came in by Fax to the Newton Police Department. Please be advised that due to the scope of the request and the probability that it may impact the privacy rights of third parties, we will require 30 business days from today to complete the review of the request and determine what documents may be produced. Please note that the Town Hall business days are Monday - Wednesday 8:00am - 4:00pm and Thursday 10:00am - 6:00pm. We will be in contact with you on or before November 2, 2021.
*******91-A does not require we create documents or answer questions - only that we produce public records that are responsive to the questions.***
Thank you
Nancy J. Wrigley
Town Administrator
Board of Selectmen
2 Town Hall Road
Newton, NH 03858
Selectmen@newtonnh.net<mailto:Selectmen@newtonnh.net>
PH 603-382-4405-x 314 FAX 603-382-9140
www.newtonnh.gov
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Hampshire Right to Know Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 8, 2021. You previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 2, 2021. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Hampshire Right to Know Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 8, 2021. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 2, 2021. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Newton Police Department
Hello,
The completion date was listed “on or before November 2, 2021”, not October 2, 2021.
Thank you
Nancy J. Wrigley
Town Administrator
Board of Selectmen
2 Town Hall Road
Newton, NH 03858
Selectmen@newtonnh.net<mailto:Selectmen@newtonnh.net>
PH 603-382-4405-x 314 FAX 603-382-9140
www.newtonnh.gov
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Hampshire Right to Know Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 8, 2021. You previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2021. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Newton Police Department
To whom it may concern,
As promised to have the information to you by November 2, 2021, I am responding to your RTK request, dated September 9, 2021, for information regarding the Police Department employment records.
Pursuant to RSA 91-A:4, VII states: "Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require a public body or agency to compile, cross-reference, or assemble information into a form in which it is not already kept or reported by that body or agency." As such, while something like budgets would be available pursuant to RSA 33-A:3-a, it is highly likely that demographic information of individual employees would not be available in such form.
Also, RSA 91-A:5, IV, states: "Records pertaining to internal personnel practices and other files whose disclosure would constitute invasion of privacy."
The section requesting information about "Hiring and Employment Data" may require review under the invasion of privacy exception by the town. Also, the request for 20 years of information from a town the size of Newton would require "compiling, cross-referencing, or assembling information into a form in which it is not already kept or reported by that body or agency."
It allows municipalities to withhold information "whose disclosure would constitute invasion of privacy" and would prevent disclosures of a person's social security number, home address, and other private information.
The link below will take you to the Newton Town Reports on our website going back to 2005, consisting of, the Newton Police Department Budgets and Gross Wages for Elected Officials and Town Employees.
Town Reports and Town Meeting Information | Newton NH (newton-nh.gov)<https://www.newton-nh.gov/board-selectmen/pages/town-reports-and-town-meeting-information>
MuckRock can come to Newton and spend some time at the Town Hall reviewing the Town Reports as needed.
This concludes your RTK request on this matter.
Thank you
Nancy J. Wrigley
Town Administrator
2 Town Hall Road
Newton, NH 03858
nwrigley@newtonnh.net<mailto:nwrigley@newtonnh.net>
PH 603-382-4405 x 314 Fax 603-382-7766
www.newton-nh.gov
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Hampshire Right to Know Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 8, 2021. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2021. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Granite State News Collaborative
Hi Ms. Wrigley,
My name is Cassidy Jensen and I'm a reporter at the Concord Monitor. My colleague Beryl Lipton sent this original request. Thank you so much for responding and helping to fulfill this request.
I'm following up because I'll be writing a story soon explaining this project, which involved more than 200 requests sent to police departments across the state for budget, employment and demographic information for police officers.
To simplify our request for employment data, the key information we are requesting is the number of law enforcement officers employed by Newton in the years 2000,2010 and 2020. I don't believe that any of the Right to Know exemptions you cited apply to this information. Can you provide these numbers?
If you are able to provide overall demographic information for officers employed in those years, without disclosing individuals' information, that would also be great. Please feel free to call me back at 603-369-3322 with any questions.
Thanks,
Cassidy Jensen
The Concord Monitor
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Hampshire Right to Know Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 9, 2021. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2021. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Newton Police Department
Good morning,
On February 7, 2022, I received a phone call from Cassidy Jenson at the Concord Monitor requesting this information. I called Cassidy back and informed her that the number of police officers between 2000 – 2010 were fifteen (15) officers, both full-time and part-time. And in 2020, the town had 17 police officers, consisting of both full-time and part-time positions.
Thank you. This concludes your right to know request as submitted on September 9, 2021.
Nancy J. Wrigley
Town Administrator
2 Town Hall Road
Newton, NH 03858
nwrigley@newtonnh.net<mailto:nwrigley@newtonnh.net>
PH 603-382-4405 x 314 Fax 603-382-7766
www.newton-nh.gov
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