Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Omaha Police Department)

Brandon, I forwarded this request on. Someone should be getting back in
touch with you. Sorry for the late reply. The collaborative inbox where we
receive these requests has been experiencing some technical problems, and
either filtering the emails to spam, or not sending to all recipients. We
are working to fix the problem.

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<http://police.cityofomaha.org/>

Officer Michael Pecha | Omaha Police Department

Public Information Office 505 South 15th Street

Office: (402) 444-5867 Omaha, Ne 68102

Mobile: (402) 690-5425

Brandon, your request has been received by Deputy City Attorney, Bernard In
den Bosch. He will respond to the request.

Thank you for your patience.

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<http://police.cityofomaha.org/>

Officer Michael Pecha | Omaha Police Department

Public Information Office 505 South 15th Street

Office: (402) 444-5867 Omaha, Ne 68102

Mobile: (402) 690-5425

I apologize for the delay in responding. The City of Omaha does not have
any contracts nor has it had any contracts with the companies that you
detail. Also, we have not had a contract similar to what you describe.

There is no mechanism to do a search of "all police emails." I have
authorized a search of the email of those at the Chief and Deputy Chief
level to see if they have been solicited in any form and if I receive any
response, I will let you know.

The City of Omaha does not do constant aerial surveillance. We have had a
police helicopter since the late 1990s and it responds to search and rescue
calls and responds to calls for assistance by officers - frequently to keep
an eye on a suspect or suspect vehicle when they are trying to evade police.

On Aug. 1, 2016:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Nebraska Public Records Statutes (Neb. Rev. Stat. §
84-712), I hereby request the following records:

All records responsive to the below requests dated from January 1, 2014
through July 28, 2016.
- The full documentation of all contracts or non-disclosure agreements
(enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with the companies
"Persistent Surveillance Systems" or "Vigilant Solutions"
- Copies of all invoices to or from these companies, and documents
sufficient to show any and all disbursement of public funds to either
company
- The full documentation of all contracts (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the
above dates) with any company other than the two cited above, in which said
company provides your department with equipment or services (including
software) for 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic
photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for
speed infractions.
- Copies of all invoices to or from any company that fits the description
in the prior paragraph, and documents sufficient to show any disbursement
of public funds to any company that fits this description
- All emails between police department email accounts and users on the
domains "pss-1.com" or "vigilantsolutions.com". (One example would be
brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com. Users on the domain would be in the
form of XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com)
- All paper-based communications between your department and Persistent
Surveillance Systems, and between your department and Vigilant Solutions.
In asking for all paper and electronic correspondence, this request
necessarily includes marketing materials and descriptions of product
capabilities for any device, software, or access/capability this department
has purchased. A circuit court judge in Illinois recently ruled that
non-disclosure agreements signed by public bodies do not trump freedom of
information laws when it comes to surveillance equipment/capability
purchased by police. Citation:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/chicago-police-mu
st-finally-produce-stingray-records-judge-orders/
- Documents sufficient to show all rules or regulations governing the use
of products (hardware or software) that do 1. license plate scanning or
reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding
monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- The text of all agreements (whether formal, email, memo, or otherwise)
between your department and any other public body or department that allows
your department to use or access the capabilities of 1. license plate
scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance,
excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.
- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first
entered a program of scanning license plates or accessing a database of
scanned plates, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said
program if it has ended).
- Documents sufficient to show the total number of license plates scanned
in your department's jurisdiction (whether the jurisdiction in this case is
precisely or roughly represented) since the department began its
plate-scanning program or first purchased access to such a program
- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first
entered a program of persistent aerial surveillance, if it indeed has such
a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).
- Documents sufficient to show the number of plane-hours of aerial
surveillance (excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions)
purchased by your department within the dates at the top of this request.
For example, one plane flying for four hours is four plane-hours. Two
planes flying for four hours is eight plane-hours.
- Documents sufficient to show any attempt made by a representative of your
department to inform the public about automatic license plate readers or
persistent aerial surveillance. This could include but is not limited to
records of town hall meetings, quotes from police spokespeople in local
media, or text from the department's website.

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 4 business
days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Brandon Smith

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Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock
DEPT MR 27360
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is
being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share,
and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed
(i.e., with the requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the
department number) requests might be returned as undeliverable.

*Bernard J. in den BoschDeputy City AttorneyCity of Omaha - Law
Department1819 Farnam Street, Suite 804Omaha, NE 68183Telephone: (402)
444-5022Facsimile: (402) 444-5125*
*E-Mail: *bernard.bosch@cityofomaha.org

The information contained in this email contains confidential information
from the Omaha City Attorney’s Office that is intended solely for the
recipient set forth above. Any redistribution, copying or other
dissemination of the contents of this transmission is prohibited. Please be
advised that the contents of this email may be intercepted or diverted
through transmission over the internet and therefore the security of this
email cannot be guaranteed by the sender.

These are the only emails that came up. You can see that they are copies
of a circular listing potential products related to police work.

*Bernard J. in den BoschDeputy City AttorneyCity of Omaha - Law
Department1819 Farnam Street, Suite 804Omaha, NE 68183Telephone: (402)
444-5022Facsimile: (402) 444-5125*
*E-Mail: *bernard.bosch@cityofomaha.org

The information contained in this email contains confidential information
from the Omaha City Attorney’s Office that is intended solely for the
recipient set forth above. Any redistribution, copying or other
dissemination of the contents of this transmission is prohibited. Please be
advised that the contents of this email may be intercepted or diverted
through transmission over the internet and therefore the security of this
email cannot be guaranteed by the sender.