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:
Received your request, based on the amount of information this may take several weeks.
Chief John Barbelet
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
jbarbelet@tarrytowngov.com
________________________________
The U.S. Constitution requires that everyone living in the United States is counted every 10 years -we all count.
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
We had responded that we are in receipt of the FOIL request. Based upon the amount of information requested we will need a significant amount of time to gather the data. We are currently going through the files.
Chief John Barbelet
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
jbarbelet@tarrytowngov.com
-
~WRD000
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
We are in receipt of your request and did respond on 6/22/20 and 7/7/20. Based upon the enormous amount of information requested it will take at least several more weeks to go through and locate records in question. We have been working on this and several other FOIL requests and will continue to do so.
Chief John Barbelet
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
jbarbelet@tarrytowngov.com
-
~WRD000
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
Due to the extent of the request, issues surrounding COVID and a recent tropical storm we will need more time to address this request
Chief John Barbelet
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
jbarbelet@tarrytowngov.com
-
~WRD000
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
We are still in the process of gathering information. There is a significant amount of information to go through and we do not have the staff to dedicate someone full time. We do spend as much time as possible on this request when the environment allows us to do so.
Chief John Barbelet
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
jbarbelet@tarrytowngov.com
________________________________
The U.S. Constitution requires that everyone living in the United States is counted every 10 years -we all count.
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
As stated before this is a monumental task that we have to stared to address. We expect it to take at least three more months depending on how much time we are able to dedicate to the task.
Chief John Barbelet
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
jbarbelet@tarrytowngov.com
-
~WRD000
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
We are still working on your request as time allows. As the Chief stated on Sept. 8, 2020 it could take us an additional 2 months at this point. Thank you for understanding.
Dana J. Tavano
Sr. Office Assistant-Police
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
-
~WRD000
From: Tarrytown Village Police Department
I was able to locate 1994-2019 Due to the size of the files you will receive a few emails. Here is 1994-1999.
Dana
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image001
From: Tarrytown Village Police Department
Here is 2000-2009
Dana J. Tavano
Sr. Office Assistant-Police
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
________________________________
The U.S. Constitution requires that everyone living in the United States is counted every 10 years -we all count.
From: Tarrytown Village Police Department
Here is 2010 to 2019
Dana J. Tavano
Sr. Office Assistant-Police
Tarrytown Police Department
One Depot Plaza
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-5544
________________________________
The U.S. Constitution requires that everyone living in the United States is counted every 10 years -we all count.
From: Tarrytown Village Police Department
Good morning, we are still working on the remainder of your request.
Dana
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~WRD000
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
I spoke with the Chief and he said he is still working it.
Dana
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
Per the Chief, he is still working on the remainder of your request.
Dana
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Dana,
Thanks so much for your most recent update on this request. I really appreciate it.
I hope you and yours are well.
Best wishes,
Beryl
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello, Dana —
I want to thank you for sending along the materials that you have. Though hundreds of New York police departments received similar requests in 2020, yours is one of the few that have provided responsive materials at all. I really appreciate it.
When you're able, please let me know when I can expect the records for the remaining years, and I will let you know if we have any other follow-up questions or would like additional materials.
Many thanks for your help with this FOIL request. I hope that your holiday season goes swimmingly.
Best wishes,
Beryl
From: Tarrytown Village Police Department
Good morning, I will compile 2020’s use of force for you by the end of the week.
Dana
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: Tarrytown Village Police Department
Good morning, here are the use of force forms for 2020. You will see a blank report with Display Only circled after a few of them. An incorrect form was used and so we added a correction page to show that it should be display only.
Dana
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