Virginia police certification 2022-10-14
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | Oct. 14, 2022 |
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Communications
From: 大鬍子
Good day Maria:
This is a public records request made via MuckRock under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, seeking records related to law enforcement officer certification in this state.
This request is brought by Big Local News along with a collaboration of news organizations, including ABC News, KQED, MuckRock and other news organizations. Big Local News is a program of Stanford University’s Journalism and Democracy Initiative and helps journalists collect, process and analyze public data.
We are seeking two categories of certification records:
* All certified officers
All law enforcement officers who are actively certified as of the date of this request (or when the request is processed). If your system maintains historical records of previously certified officers who are no longer active, please include them as far back as possible. If correctional officers are certified by your agency, please include them as well.
* Decertified officers
All law enforcement officers who have been decertified through revocations, voluntary surrenders, suspensions or any other actions going back as far as possible. Please include records for decertified correctional officers if available.
Data elements for certified officers:
* Officer unique ID number
* POST or state certification ID number
* Officer’s full name
* Officer’s date of birth or, if not releasable, year of birth or current age
* Officer’s city and/or zip code of residence
* Officer’s last/current department or agency
* Officer’s last/current department or agency start date
* Officer’s last/current position and/or rank at that department or agency
* Officer’s previous departments/agencies (employment history), with start and end dates
* Officer’s positions and/or ranks at previous departments or agencies
* Officer’s original date of certification
* Current status of certification (active, lapsed, expired, suspended, etc.)
* Last action taken on certification
* Date of last action on certification
* Disciplinary actions taken against this officer’s certification
* Dates of disciplinary actions taken against this officer’s certification
* Training history/additional certifications of this officer, if available
Data elements for decertified officers:
* Officer unique ID number
* POST ID number
* Officer’s full name
* Officer’s date of birth or, if not releasable, year of birth or current age
* Officer’s city and/or zip code of residence.
* Officer’s last department/agency, with start and end date
* Officer’s last position and/or rank at that department or agency
* Decertification action taken (revocation, suspension, voluntary surrender, etc.)
* Date decertification action taken
* POST case number, if applicable
* Reason for decertification or similar action
If your certification system contains data elements not listed above, please include them in the response, provided they are releasable under the law. On the other hand, we recognize some of the information we are asking for may not be tracked by your system. If that is the case, we are willing to accept as many of the data elements as your agency maintains. If some records are more readily available, we are happy to receive partial information as soon as possible while the remaining request is processed.
In addition to the data elements listed, we request documentation necessary to understand and interpret the data, including but not limited to record layouts, data dictionaries, code sheets, lookup tables, etc.
Our preference is to receive structured data provided in a machine-readable text file, such as delimited or fixed-width formats. We can also handle a variety of other data formats including SQL databases, Excel workbooks and MS Access. If there are additional formats your agency would prefer to provide, please let us know.
We are seeking this information as a news media organization on a matter of public interest concerning the conduct of government. As such, we ask for a waiver of all fees, if allowed under state law. If fees are necessary to reimburse the agency for actual costs, we agree to pay up to $100. If costs exceed that amount, please let us know before fulfilling the request.
Please send clarifications and questions via electronic communication at any time. Thank you very much for your time and attention to this request.
Chris May -- 503 334 7734
From:
Thank you for your message. I am no longer with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. Please contact Laureen Hyman, Executive Assistant to DCJS senior leadership, to determine where to redirect your inquiry: laureen.hyman@dcjs.virginia.gov or (804) 786-8718. (mailto:laureen.hyman@dcjs.virginia.gov)
Maria Garnett
Previously: Policy Advisor and FOIA Officer, Virginia DCJS
--
Maria Garnett (she, her)
Policy Advisor Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services ( DCJS) (http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov)
1100 Bank Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219
Phone: 804.613.0001
For up-to-date information, subscribe to DCJS Updates: www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe (http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe)
Visit us on Facebook and (http://www.facebook.com/vadcjs) Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/va_dcjs)
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.
From: Muckrock Staff
Hi,
Please see the following request for records. Thank you for your help with this request.
Sincerely,
MuckRock
From: Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission
This office is in receipt of your request for records made in accordance
with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§2.2-3700 et seq.), which we
received Wednesday, October 25, 2022, seeking records relating to law
enforcement officer certifications.
Regarding your request for *certified officers*, pursuant to §
2.2-3705.1(1) of the *Code of Virginia*, DCJS claims this information is
exempt from FOIA as they are personnel records.
Regarding your request for *decertified officers*, most of the information
requested is covered under the Master decertification list. The areas not
included are either not tracked or are protected from release under the
FOIA personnel record exemption § 2.2-3705.1(1) as noted above. The current
DCJS decertification list is attached.
Thank you for contacting DCJS.
Laureen Hyman
Executive Assistant to the Director
Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services
1100 Bank Street, Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 786-8718
www.dcjs.virginia.gov
<http://../../../ijr24809/Documents/www.dcjs.virginia.gov>
For up to date information, subscribe to *DCJS Updates*:
*www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe <http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe>*Visit
us on Facebook: *www.facebook.com/vadcjs* <https://www.facebook.com/vadcjs>
*and* Flickr: *www.flickr.com/photos/va_dcjs*
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/va_dcjs/>
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely
for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged
information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not
the intended recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message
has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by
reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use,
dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is
strictly prohibited.
From: 大鬍子
Hi Laureen,
Thank you for sending this information over. I wanted to follow up on this and request some additional information about the data and records I've requested so I can better understand what has been exempted and what additional information DCJS tracks (or doesn't track). Can you please provide a description of the data elements you maintain on police certification, how the data is stored, and a general idea of the volume of the information involved?
Best,
Chris
From: Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission
This office is in receipt of your request for records made in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§2.2-3700 et seq.), which we received December 2nd. Please be advised that it is not possible to provide the requested records within the five working days required by FOIA because of the review process required for this request. Therefore, we are invoking subsection B 4 of §2.2-3704 to provide us with seven additional working days to respond to your request.
Thank you.
Laureen Hyman
Assistant to the Director
Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services
1100 Bank Street, Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 786-8718 Fax: (804) 786-0588
www.dcjs.virginia.gov<../../../ijr24809/Documents/www.dcjs.virginia.gov>
For up to date information, subscribe to DCJS Updates: www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe<http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe>
Visit us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/vadcjs<https://www.facebook.com/vadcjs> and Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/va_dcjs<http://www.flickr.com/photos/va_dcjs/>
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.
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~WRD0005
From: Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission
This office is in receipt of your request for records made in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§2.2-3700 et seq.), on December 2, 2022, in which you are now requesting “a description of the data elements you maintain on police certification, how the data is stored, and a general idea of the volume of the information involved?”
DCJS tracks critical training and certification information in their system of record, known as TRACER, for regulated public safety employees. This data includes, but is not limited to, information related to the regulated professions like jailor, law enforcement, department of corrections, court security, civil process, and dispatcher. TRACER tracks what in-service classes are taken, follows due dates, and advises DCJS when an individual is approaching an expiration without sufficient in-service training.
Jailors and Law Enforcement professionals are certified by the state. Their certification can be revoked if they meet statutory requirements and DCJS is made aware. This information regarding certification status is also in TRACER.
TRACER is an expansive system which tracks around 45,000 active public safety professionals and contains training information regarding for those that have separated from their public safety professions.
TRACER tracks numerous other types of information that are relevant to instructorships, agencies, and academies.
TRACER is not designed as a census mechanism, and has significant limitations for some types of queries.
Thank you for contacting DCJS.
Laureen Hyman
Assistant to the Director
Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services
1100 Bank Street, Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 786-8718 Fax: (804) 786-0588
www.dcjs.virginia.gov<../../../ijr24809/Documents/www.dcjs.virginia.gov>
For up to date information, subscribe to DCJS Updates: www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe<http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/subscribe>
Visit us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/vadcjs<https://www.facebook.com/vadcjs> and Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/va_dcjs<http://www.flickr.com/photos/va_dcjs/>
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.
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~WRD0000
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