Automatic vehicle location database (Thurston 9-1-1 Communications)
| Submitted | July 11, 2013 |
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Communications
From: Phil Mocek
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to RCW Ch. 42.56 (Public Records Act), I hereby request the following records:
Full and complete database of automatic vehicle location (AVL) data in its native electronic format, with related metadata, including database schema.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Phil Mocek
From: K D Seeley
Dear Mr. Mocek:
I am writing to advise you that we received your Public Records request sent 7/11/13 at 7:56 p.m. Per WAC 44-14-04003 (10) we are advising you that we require additional time to respond to your request. We do not have in-house expertise to assess this request and submitted your request to our agency's CAD Vendor for assistance. This email is provided to communicate the additional time required to respond by July 31, 2013.
Please let us know by response to this email that you have received this notification. Thank you.
From: Phil Mocek
RE: my public records request of July 11, 2013
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am in receipt of your e-mail of July 18, 2013, addressed from K.D. Seeley, which states that you intend to enlist the assistance of your agency's computer-aided dispatch (CAD) vendor in fulfillment of my request, as your staff do not have sufficient expertise to provide the records to me. Does this indicate that you are not in control of backups of your database of AVL data?
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: K D Seeley
Dear Mr. Mocek:
After consultation with our CAD Database vendor and our legal counsel, the documents you have requested ( full and complete database of automatic vehicle location data in its native electronic format, with related metadata, including database schema.) do not exist in the format you requested.
Please advise if we can reproduce documents you are interested in, in another format.
From: Phil Mocek
RE: my public records request of July 11, 2013
Dear Sir or Madam:
On July 22, 2013, via e-mail, K.D. Seeley wrote, "the documents you have requested (full and complete database of automatic vehicle location data in its native electronic format, with related metadata, including database schema.) do not exist in the format you requested." In what format do these electronic records exist, if not their native format? Who is your CAD database vendor?
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Jim Quackenbush
Mr. Mocek,
The documents you have requested (full and complete database of automatic vehicle location data in its native electronic format, with related metadata, including database schema.) do not exist. Communications with our CAD Vendor indicated that to reduce your request to a reproducible document format, the County would be required to purchase an enhancement to the existing product and would result in a cost to the agency to develop. The Washington Public Records Act does not require a public agency to spend funds to purchase products to create documents. Therefore we are unable to provide what you have asked for. Our Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) vendor is Tiburon Inc. Please let us know if we can provide what you are requesting in some other format that meets your needs.
Sincerely, James C. Quackenbush, Executive Director
From: Phil Mocek
RE: my public records request of July 11, 2013
Dear Sir or Madam:
These are public records. If a private entity is holding them at ransom, please deal with the situation and let me know how the public may gain access our records.
In case the problem is simply one of filtering for the specific records I requested: I am completely amenable to receiving a wider assortment of data than that which I requested.
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
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 July 11, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: Jim Quackenbush
In response to your inquiry, I am awaiting a review by legal counsel. You may expect a response to your request by August 30, 2013. JQ
From: Jim Quackenbush
Mr. Mocek,
As I tried to explain in my July 24th, 2013 response, we have no responsive records that meet your request for "full and complete database of automatic vehicle location data in its native electronic format, with related metadata, including database schema".
Our automatic vehicle location software, and license to use that software allows only viewing of live data from units equipped with vehicle location capabilities, and is transitory in nature. It is not archived to the computer aided dispatch system database for any given length of time. While a screen shot may be produced by the operator, it is only a snapshot of that exact time on that particular workstation.
Our CAD vendor, Tiburon Inc., has supplied us with information that states they could modify our current system, at a cost to our agency, to begin archiving the automatic vehicle location information to a Data Warehouse database where it can be indexed by date and time for later retrieval. However the laws of the State of Washington do not require a public agency to create a document that doesn't exist or to compile records that are not already in the form of a reproducible document. If you make a request for records that we can reproduce, we will respond with all due speed.
Respectfully,
James C. Quackenbush
Executive Director
Thurston 9-1-1 Communications
James C. Quackenbush, Executive Director
Thurston 9-1-1 Communications
2703 Pacific Avenue SE
Olympia, Washington 98501
(360) 704-2731
Jim.quackenbush@tcomm911.org<mailto:Jim.quackenbush@tcomm911.org>
In response to your inquiry, I am awaiting a review by legal counsel. You may expect a response to your request by August 30, 2013. JQ
From: Phil Mocek
RE: my public records request of July 11, 2013
Dear Mr. Quackenbush:
Could you please provide the records you referenced in your communication of August 20, 2013? You wrote that your computer-aided dispatch ("CAD") vendor, Tiburon, supplied you with "information that states they could modify [your] current system, at a cost to [your] agency, to begin archiving the automatic vehicle location information to a Data Warehouse database where it can be indexed by date and time for later retrieval." I also request records which describe operation of the AVL capabilities of your CAD system.
Cordially,
Phil Mocek
From: Jim Quackenbush
Mr. Mocek,
I have attached the requested document from our vendor regarding the full and complete database of automatic vehicle location (AVL) data in its native electronic format, with related metadata, including database schema.
In regards to your request for "records which describe the operation of the AVL capabilities of your CAD system", we have a Tiburon CommandCAD Calculated Routing and AVL User Guide Document Number 0111-UG-CAD035. That document is copyrighted @2011, and therefore we are unable to provide that document.
You may contact Tiburon, Inc. 3000 Executive Parkway, Suite 500, San Ramon, CA 94583 or telephone at 925-621-2700 to request access to that document.
This satisfies your public records request of July 11, 2013, and follow up dated August 22, 2013.
Sincerely, James C. Quackenbush, Executive Director
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