Police Liability payout record request from Sun Sentinel (Palm Beach Police Department)

The following form was submitted via your website: Request for Public Records

Palm Beach Police Records Request: The Palm Beach Police Department Records Unit is responsible for:

Responding to public records requests under the provisions of the Florida Public Records Act (FSS 119.07)

: Any Offense Reports* involving criminal activity with suspect information may be subject to being excised, depending on whether or not the case has been closed and/or until such time as the status of any other judicial actions have been ascertained. Other reports and documents, by their sensitive natures, may not be public records and cannot be released per a variety of Florida State Statutes.

Over-the-counter copies of reports are available (see fee schedule below) Monday thru Friday from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM (excluding Holidays).: Our Records Custodian will provide individual report release related guidance as requested or needed in person or by calling 561-838-5480 or visiting us in the Main Lobby of the Police Department at 345 S. County Road, Palm Beach, FL 33480

: Citizen-initiated inquiries for criminal history checks should be addressed to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Further information about these services can be obtained by going to http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/ or calling (850) 410-8109.

: Notice: Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing. Fla. Stat. 668.6076, History.-s, 1, ch. 2006-232.

First Name: Mario

Last Name: Alejandro Ariza

Agency: Palm Beach Police Dept

Address 1: MuckRock News 411A Highland Ave DEPT MR

City: Somerville

State: MA

Zip: 02144

Phone Number: 786-210-6548

Email Address: requests@muckrock.com

Reference To: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Florida Sunshine Law, I hereby request the following records:

I hope this message finds you well. This is a public records request from a member of a media organization, pursuant to Florida Statute 119. In furtherance of an article investigating police misconduct payouts across the county over the past decades, we are seeking documents that show how much your municipal corporation, its legal representatives, or its liability insurance carriers have paid out in civil court since 01/01/2010 because of the actions of its police professionals.

To that end, we kindly request the electronic delivery of an excel spreadsheet with the following information:
- An identifying number for the claim
- The loss date
- An incident indicator description (such as “excessive force, k-9 bite, false arrest/imprisonment, etc.)
- Incurred expenses
- Incurred liability
- Incurred legal expenses
- Paid legal expenses
- Paid total
- Incurred total

This records pull should be interpreted to cover both federal and state court claims. If some of the above figures are not available because of your accounting practices, please endeavor to provide us with as full a picture as possible of the $$$ paid out by your municipality due to lawsuits against its police officers over the past ten years.

Upon request, we can provide a spreadsheet obtained from the BSO that can serve as an example and guide for what we are looking for. Please do feel free to reach out via email or phone should you have any questions.

Very Best
Mario Alejandro Ariza
Federal Courts Reporter
South Florida Sun Sentinel
786.210.6548

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 10 business days.

Sincerely,

Mario Ariza

Signature of person making the request: Mario Alejandro Ariza

Do you agree?: I Agree

Offense Reports involving a juvenile not will be released according to State Statute, without proper identification and/or required proof of involvement.: Please contact the Records Unit at for requirements regarding the release of any juvenile information.

Please remember that Accident Reports can generally not be provided to anyone other than the persons involved, their insurance companies or their Attorneys until 60 days after the accident*. : Accident Reports are confidential and not considered public record until 60 days after the date of the accident. Prior to the conclusion of the 60-day waiting period, accident reports will be released only to the following:
• A party involved in the crash (photo identification required);
• The legal representative of a party involved in the crash (Florida Bar number required);
• The licensed insurance agent of a party involved in the crash, or a party who has applied for insurance coverage (Florida license number required);
• A person under contract to provide claims or underwriting information to a qualifying insurance company(name of insurance company required);
• A prosecuting authority (Florida Bar number required);
• A representative of a radio or television station licensed by the FCC, a newspaper qualified to publish legal notices, or a free newspaper of general circulation which qualifies under Statute 316.066(3)(C) (name of radio station, television station or newspaper required, along with proof of free distribution, if applicable); or
• A state or federal agency representative who is authorized by law to have access to these reports. All required credentials or identification must be reviewed by a Records Assistant prior to the report's release.

Fee Schedule: First 10 pages free; each additional page $.05. Contact Records Assistant if any research requires more than ½ hour as requestor will be charged the hourly rate of the Records Assistant plus $.15 per page.

Additional Information:
Form Submitted on: 2/1/2021 11:58:05 AM
Form Address: https://townofpalmbeach.com/FormCenter/Police-Department-Public-Records-Request-12/Request-for-Public-Records-62

I believe this goes to your office.
The Town of Palm Beach is highly committed to transparency and efficiency in fulfilling public records requests. To this end, you can access many Town records online<https://www.townofpalmbeach.com/93/Agendas-Minutes>. If you cannot find what you are looking for, then please visit our Public Records Request Page<https://www.townofpalmbeach.com/index.aspx?NID=462> for more information.
Important Notice as of March 19, 2020:
The current COVID-19 pandemic presents an additional series of demands on Town operations and available resources. While the Town is committed to making reasonable efforts to timely respond to all public records requests in good faith, please note that there may be a delay to the Town’s response as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The Town Clerk’s office advised that I may respond directly back to PD.

Response: The Town does not have an in-house document as requested below:

. In furtherance of an article investigating police misconduct payouts across the county over the past decades, we are seeking documents that show how much your municipal corporation, its legal representatives, or its liability insurance carriers have paid out in civil court since 01/01/2010 because of the actions of its police professionals.

To that end, we kindly request the electronic delivery of an excel spreadsheet with the following information:
- An identifying number for the claim
- The loss date
- An incident indicator description (such as “excessive force, k-9 bite, false arrest/imprisonment, etc.)
- Incurred expenses
- Incurred liability
- Incurred legal expenses
- Paid legal expenses
- Paid total
- Incurred total

Karen Temme, ARM
Risk Manager

Town of Palm Beach
Risk Management
951 Okeechobee Road
West Palm Beach, Fl 33401
Phone: 561-838-5496
Fax: 561-838-5458
www.townofpalmbeach.com<http://www.townofpalmbeach.com/>

Hey Karen,
Please see the below and attached.

Mario,

It was nice to speak with you today. Thank you for providing samples of the information received from other agencies. Based upon our discussion and the samples provided, the Town is providing the attached spreadsheet containing the requested information.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you,

Karen

Karen Temme, ARM
Risk Manager

Town of Palm Beach
Risk Management
951 Okeechobee Road
West Palm Beach, Fl 33401
Phone: 561-838-5496
Fax: 561-838-5458
www.townofpalmbeach.com<http://www.townofpalmbeach.com/>