Seattle PD K-9 Handler Use-of-Force Reports

January 5, 2016

RE: Public Disclosure Request # P2015-13470

Dear CJ Ciaramella,

This letter is in response to your public disclosure request dated December 28, 2015 and received by the Seattle Police Department’s Public Disclosure Unit on December 28, 2015 for all Use-of-Force reports (Type I, II, or III) filed by canine handlers between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 28, 2015.

Pursuant to RCW 42.56.520, this is notification that we have received your public disclosure request, and we anticipate it may take up to 11 weeks from the date of this notification to respond. Therefore we anticipate a response to you on or about March 21, 2016.

This additional time is used to research this request, collect responsive records, and/or prepare records for dissemination. Please note: Seattle Police Department currently receives approximately 4,500 public disclosure requests annually.

If you have any questions or need further assistance with this request, please contact the Public Disclosure Desk at 206-684-5481.

Sincerely,

Rodger Stephenson
Admin Specialist II
Public Disclosure Unit

March 22, 2016

CJ Ciaramella
MuckRock
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

RE: Public Disclosure Request: SPD Canine Use of Force Reports
PDR #: 15-13470

Dear CJ Ciaramella,

This email is in response to your public disclosure request dated December 28, 2015 and received by the Seattle Police Department’s Public Disclosure Unit on December 28, 2015 for all Use of Force reports filed by canine handlers between January 1, 2015 and December 28, 2015. Attached please find a copy of the public records you requested.

Please note there were no Level III K-9 Use of Force incidents in 2015. Any Level I cases involving K-9 officers did not involve dog contact. Therefore, the responsive reports are for Level II incidents only. However, if you are interested in the Level I reports please contact our office within 30 days or by April 22, 2015.

Redactions have been applied to the reports pursuant to RCW 42.56.210 and/or other statutes. Page 2 of 15-94285, pages 4 and 5 of 15-109395, pages 3 and 4 of 15-296661 and page 6 of 15-299060 contain photographs and month and year of birth in the personnel files of employees and workers of criminal justice agencies. (RCW 42.56.250(8)). Explanation: Release could lead to the harassment of criminal justice agency employees and/or their endangerment. Note: This information may be released to the news media. For the purposes of this exemption, news media does not include any person or organization of persons in the custody of a criminal justice agency.

Pages 1, 4 and 5 of 15-94285 contain information on a juvenile, which is confidential, and may not be released to the public except by court order or written consent under provisions of RCW 13.50.050 (records relating to commission of juvenile offenses) and RCW 13.50.100(3) and/or RCW 13.50.100(4)(a)and(b) (records not relating to commission of juvenile offenses.) Explanation: Agencies are prohibited from disclosing information related to juveniles without a court order or written consent because disclosure is statutorily prohibited and would violate the subject’s right to privacy.

We have not prepared a detailed exemption log for records because only limited information has been redacted from the responsive records. The information normally provided in an exemption log, such as title, author, recipient, subject, and number of pages, is readily ascertainable by looking at the redacted records.

You may file a written appeal of this response with the SPD’s Legal Unit within ten (10) business days from the date of receipt. Please include your name and address, a copy of the redacted document and a copy of this letter together with a brief statement identifying the basis of the appeal. Please mail or deliver your appeal to:

Seattle Police Department
Attn: Legal Unit
610 Fifth Avenue
P.O. Box 34986
Seattle, WA 98124-4986

This concludes the Seattle Police Department’s response to your request.

If you have any questions, please contact the Public Disclosure Desk at 206-684-5481.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Mash
Administrative Specialist III
Public Disclosure Unit