Police department misconduct allegations and disciplinary proceedings
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | June 18, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Beryl Lipton
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
All materials and records describing and sufficient to show/disclose all allegations of misconduct made and all disciplinary proceedings taken against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency.
As described in the New York Freedom of Information Law, a record is "any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or for an agency or the state legislature, in any physical form whatsoever including, but not limited to, reports, statements, examinations, memoranda, opinions, folders, files, books, manuals, pamphlets, forms, papers, designs, drawings, maps, photos, letters, microfilms, computer tapes or discs, rules, regulations or codes." Records kept in a digital or electronic form are also records, would be responsive to this request, and should be provided.
These records are typically required to be retained under the New York State Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1 (http://www.archives.nysed.gov/records/retention_mu-1), including, but not limited to, item no. 365, which includes: "Investigative records and disciplinary proceedings, including but not limited to statement of charge, transcript of hearing, notice of decision, letter of termination or resignation, letter of reinstatement, record of appeal procedure, and correspondence." While materials under that schedule have a set retention of 3 years after the final decision rendered, this request and materials responsive to it include *all* records held in the possession of any office or individual employed or formerly employed by this policing agency, including those kept off-site, in digital form, and in personnel files.
Please note that any failure to provide all potentially-responsive materials and/or the destruction of materials potentially responsive to this request would be a violation of the spirit of the New York Freedom of Information Law, as well as unlawful under the New York FOIL and the terms of the attached litigation hold notice.
Materials responsive to this request include — but are not limited to — all complaints, reports, records of discipline and penalties, aggregate collections of complaint and disciplinary materials (spreadsheets, databases), investigatory materials, relevant related correspondence, photographs, video, other related evidence, proof of discipline or fulfillment of penalties, and all personnel materials (including those used in promotion, contract, and other employment negotiations and considerations) that reference or utilize misconduct allegations or disciplinary materials of any sort.
Materials responsive to this request include all complaints— internal, external, and civilian — and include records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident/complaint: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the investigation, investigatory materials, the disposition of the case, and any subsequent materials related to the execution of any resultant discipline. Responsive materials include all complaints and allegations against any officer, employee, or representative of this policing agency, regardless of whether that complaint or allegation resulted in any investigation or disciplinary action.
Responsive materials also include all records of use of force by officers, including records disclosing the names, badge numbers, and personnel identification of each officer involved and/or serving as a witness, as well as all available details of the incident: date, time, location, nature of the incident, description of the incident, nature of the use of force, subsequent investigatory materials related to the use of force, the disposition of any investigation into the incident, and any subsequent materials related to the use of force.
Please provide materials on a rolling basis, beginning with materials created during the following timeframes:
• January 1, 2010 - June 15, 2020
• January 1, 2000 - January 1, 2010
• January 1, 1990 - January 1, 2000
• January 1, 1980 - January 1, 1990
• January 1, 1970 - January 1, 1980
Pursuant to NYCRR Section 1401.5(c)(1), should any of this request be unclear or lack sufficient description for your office, please provide direction that would enable this requester to request records reasonably described. Please also note that the New York FOIL states: "An agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the request is voluminous or that locating or reviewing the requested records or providing the requested copies is burdensome because the agency lacks sufficient staffing or on any other basis if the agency may engage an outside professional service to provide copying, programming or other services required to provide the copy...." Please also see FOIL AO 19671, an Advisory Opinion from the Committee on Open Government [https://docs.dos.ny.gov/coog/ftext/f19671.htm].
If your office has questions about this request or would like to discuss it for any reason, please contact this requester via the contact email address provided and feel free to follow up by phone: 617-299-1832. This request is being submitted to each policing agency in New York as part of a collaborative project led by MuckRock and involving multiple other educational and journalistic partners and participants. For this reason, over the lifetime of this request, your agency may interface with individuals not listed on this initial communication.
This request is being made in the public interest by a news organization as part of non-profit (not commercial) journalistic work and research on behalf of the public. 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 and as part of the necessary negotiations for successful processing. As far as it is possible, please fulfill elements of this request 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 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Beryl Lipton
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From:
Good morning,
I am attempting to email our response, as I am continuing to receive correspondence that we have not responded.
The Village of Port Byron has determined that it is unable to respond to your request in full within the next twenty business days for the following reasons of there has been a change in Police personnel and records are being found and searched:
Accordingly, on or before November 2nd, 2020, we will provide and/or deny access in whole or in part.
Thank you and have a great day.
Caitlin Bacon
Village Clerk
P.O. Box 398 - 52 Utica Street
Port Byron, New York 13140
(315) 776-4321 Phone - (315) 776-9733 Fax
Confidentiality notice: This communication, together with any attachments
hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or legally protected,
and as such is not a public document. If you are not the intended recipient,
you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination,
distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately
by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication,
along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2020. 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 York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2020. 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: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2020. 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: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2020. 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: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2020. 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: Port Byron Village Police Department
Good Afternoon,
The pervious clerk has resigned and is no longer here. Everyone in our office is new.
We are unsure were the original documents are. Can you please provide us with the original documents that was sent to us and
please clarify what you are needing from us. Also do you have a contact number we could call should we need to?
Thank you!!!
Sandy Hall
Village Clerk
P.O. Box 398 - 52 Utica Street
Port Byron, New York 13140
(315) 776-4321 Phone - (315) 776-9733 Fax
Confidentiality notice: This communication, together with any attachments
hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or legally protected,
and as such is not a public document. If you are not the intended recipient,
you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination,
distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately
by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication,
along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.
From: Port Byron Village Police Department
Good Afternoon,
We are currently trying to work on this as we are all fairly new here. The pervious clerk left some notes that we are going through. We don't have a confirmed date yet as to when this can be
completed since we need to go back a long ways and want to ensure you get the information required.
Thank you!!!
Sandy Hall
Village Clerk
P.O. Box 398 - 52 Utica Street
Port Byron, New York 13140
(315) 776-4321 Phone - (315) 776-9733 Fax
Confidentiality notice: This communication, together with any attachments
hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or legally protected,
and as such is not a public document. If you are not the intended recipient,
you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination,
distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately
by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication,
along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2020. 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: Port Byron Village Police Department
Good Morning,
I am still currently working on getting this information to you. I don't have a date of completion, but I am hoping to
get this over to you within the next 2 weeks.
Thank you!!!
Sandy Hall
Village Clerk
P.O. Box 398 - 52 Utica Street
Port Byron, New York 13140
(315) 776-4321 Phone - (315) 776-9733 Fax
Confidentiality notice: This communication, together with any attachments
hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or legally protected,
and as such is not a public document. If you are not the intended recipient,
you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination,
distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately
by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication,
along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Nov. 2, 2020. 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: Port Byron Village Police Department
Good Afternoon,
We should have this information to you by March 5th, 2021.
I did not understand what you were looking for at first, but got the answer, I was looking.
I will be going through the files with my OIC to see if we had any.
Thank you!!!
Sandy Hall
Village Clerk
P.O. Box 398 - 52 Utica Street
Port Byron, New York 13140
(315) 776-4321 Phone - (315) 776-9733 Fax
Confidentiality notice: This communication, together with any attachments
hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or legally protected,
and as such is not a public document. If you are not the intended recipient,
you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination,
distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately
by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication,
along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You previously indicated that it would be completed on March 5, 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: Port Byron Village Police Department
Good Morning,
We are working to gather this information for you. Sorry it is taking us so long, we are all new in the office.
I am hoping to have this information to you by the end of March. MY OIC and I are working to go through the files to see what we have
Thank you!
Sandy Hall
Village Clerk
P.O. Box 398 - 52 Utica Street
Port Byron, New York 13140
(315) 776-4321 Phone - (315) 776-9733 Fax
Confidentiality notice: This communication, together with any attachments
hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or legally protected,
and as such is not a public document. If you are not the intended recipient,
you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination,
distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately
by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication,
along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on March 5, 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: Port Byron Village Police Department
Good Afternoon,
Attached you will find a letter from me and our findings with documents of any disciplinary actions we had against any of our officers.
Thank you!
Sandy Hall
Village Clerk
P.O. Box 398 - 52 Utica Street
Port Byron, New York 13140
(315) 776-4321 Phone - (315) 776-9733 Fax
Confidentiality notice: This communication, together with any attachments
hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or legally protected,
and as such is not a public document. If you are not the intended recipient,
you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination,
distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately
by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication,
along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.
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