Persistent Surveillance Systems Invoices (Santa Ana Police Department)
| Submitted | Aug. 1, 2016 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Brandon Smith
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act (California Government Code §§ 6250), 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-must-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 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Brandon Smith
From: Gerardo, Abigail
= RECEIPT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT =
We are in receipt of your Public Records Request. Your request will be processed in compliance with the Public Records Act (California Gov. Code §6250 et seq.).
The Clerk’s Office will forward to appropriate department for processing and will contact you within 10 calendar days from the date the request is received.
Clerk of the Council Office
City of Santa Ana
-
~WRD000
From: Gominsky Jr, Kenneth
Mr. Smith,
I am in receipt of your Public Records Act Request and my contact information is below. As we have examined your request we have found it necessary to perform an e-mail search to comply with your request. As such, we are completing the internal documentation so that our City Information Technology Group can perform that search. We are seeking an Extension on that basis. I have included the responses to your PRA below that I am able to report at this time. We expect the e-mail search and PRA completion in approximately 2 weeks or August 25th, 2016. Please feel free to contact me if you have any issues or concerns.
- 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"
· The City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with the referenced companies.
- 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 City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with the referenced companies.
- 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.
· The City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with, license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing companies / 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
· Staff is still checking on this portion of your request.
- All emails between police department email accounts and users on the domains "pss-1.com<http://pss-1.com>" or "vigilantsolutions.com<http://vigilantsolutions.com>". (One example would be brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com<mailto:brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com>. Users on the domain would be in the form of XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com<mailto:XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com>)
· A request to City IT is in progress.
- 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-must-finally-produce-stingray-records-judge-orders/
· Staff is evaluating this portion of your request.
- 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.
· Staff is evaluating this portion of your request.
- 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.
· Staff is evaluating this portion of your request.
- 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).
· Staff is evaluating this portion of your request.
- 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
· Staff is evaluating this portion of your request.
- 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).
· The City of Santa Ana has no involvement in a persistent aerial surveillance program.
- 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.
· The City of Santa Ana has no involvement in a persistent aerial surveillance program.
- 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.
· Staff is evaluating this portion of your request.
Ken Gominsky
Santa Ana Police Department
Westside District Commander
Desk: 714) 245-8040
Cell: 714) 720-2650
Email: KGominsky@Santa-Ana.org<mailto:KGominsky@Santa-Ana.org>
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 1, 2016. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Gominsky Jr, Kenneth
Mr. Smith,
I originally sent you preliminary information on 08-10-2016, requesting an extension till today. I will assume you received that information as you have requested your follow-up information at this time. I am still awaiting the e-mail search from out CITY IT, however I have attached below the remainder of the PRA request. Please advise me if you receive this e-mail.
I am in receipt of your Public Records Act Request and my contact information is below. Please feel free to contact me if you have any issues or concerns.
- 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"
· The City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with the referenced companies.
- 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 City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with the referenced companies.
- 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.
· The City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with, license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing companies / 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
· The City of Santa Ana has No invoices to or from any company that fits the outlined description and no disbursement of public funds has occurred.
- All emails between police department email accounts and users on the domains "pss-1.com<http://pss-1.com>" or "vigilantsolutions.com<http://vigilantsolutions.com>". (One example would be brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com<mailto:brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com>. Users on the domain would be in the form of XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com<mailto:XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com>)
· A request to City IT is in progress. As stated above this has taken longer than expected. However, aside from installation discussion with Vigilant Solutions I am unaware of any other types of e-mails.
- 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-must-finally-produce-stingray-records-judge-orders/
· The City of Santa Ana has No paper-based-communications from any company that fits the outlined description.
- 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.
· Attached is SAPD Department Policy 462 pertaining to ALPR data as well as a 2007 Training Bulletin.
- 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.
· The City of Santa Ana has no agreements that comply with this request.
- 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).
· The City of Santa Ana has no documents that comply with your request.
- 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
· The City of Santa Ana has no documents that comply with your request.
- 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).
· The City of Santa Ana has no involvement in a persistent aerial surveillance program.
- 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.
· The City of Santa Ana has no involvement in a persistent aerial surveillance program.
- 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 City of Santa Ana has no documents that comply with your request.
Ken Gominsky
Santa Ana Police Department
Westside District Commander
Desk: 714) 245-8040
Cell: 714) 720-2650
Email: KGominsky@Santa-Ana.org<mailto:KGominsky@santa-ana.org><mailto:KGominsky@Santa-Ana.org>
-
~WRD000
From: Brandon Smith
Mr. Gominsky,
I have received your past two emails and I thank you for the work you've put into my request thus far.
If you could, please clarify your response: In the ALPR Training Bulletin you sent (ALPR_Training_Bulletin_-_2007.docx) it says, "The Santa Ana Police Department has acquired two ALPR systems." But yet in your earlier response, you said, "The City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with, license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing companies." Please reconcile this discrepancy.
Furthermore, in light of the Santa Ana Police Department using two ALPR systems, as specified in my request please include:
- The full documentation of all contracts or non-disclosure agreements (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with the companies "Vigilant Solutions" OR the full documentation of all contracts (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with any company other than the one cited above in which said company provides your department with equipment or services (including software) for license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing
- 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
I eagerly await your response, including the City Information Technology Group's search results.
Thank you again,
Brandon
From: Gominsky Jr, Kenneth
Response:
If you could, please clarify your response: In the ALPR Training Bulletin you sent (ALPR_Training_Bulletin_-_2007.docx) it says, "The Santa Ana Police Department has acquired two ALPR systems." But yet in your earlier response, you said, "The City of Santa Ana has No contracts or non-disclosure agreements with, license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing companies." Please reconcile this discrepancy.
1. The City of Santa Ana entered into an agreement with PIPs to outfit several police vehicles to determine how in-car video would work within our agency. As part of the system they also let us try the PIPS ALPR system. The system was eventually removed from the cars as it did not scale well to our Department and at the time data storage was an issue.
Furthermore, in light of the Santa Ana Police Department using two ALPR systems, as specified in my request please include:
- The full documentation of all contracts or non-disclosure agreements (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with the companies "Vigilant Solutions" OR the full documentation of all contracts (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with any company other than the one cited above in which said company provides your department with equipment or services (including software) for license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing
· The City of Santa Ana is part of the Orange County, Countywide ALPR system. We get our ALPR’s from the City of Anaheim.
- 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
· The City of Santa Ana is part of the Orange County, Countywide ALPR system. We have no invoices.
I eagerly await your response, including the City Information Technology Group's search results.
· I am still awaiting the e-mails.
-
~WRD000
From: Brandon Smith
Thank you for your timely and informative response.
Given the police department's time (however brief) with PIPS ALPR, please provide the following information as stated in the request:
- 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 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 text of all agreements (whether formal, email, memo, or otherwise) between your department and any other public body or department [including the City of Anaheim and Orange County] that allows your department to use or access the capabilities of 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing;
Additionally, in light of this information please accept the following addendum to my original request:
- Please provide all paper and electronic communication regarding ALPR systems between the Santa Ana Police Department and the City of Anaheim.
- Please provide all paper and electronic communication regarding ALPR systems between the Santa Ana Police Department and Orange County.
Again, I eagerly await your response and the emails from the City Information Technology Group's search.
With appreciation,
Brandon
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