Secret Service & NY Electronic Crimes Task Force email handling

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Records indicating the handling by the U.S. Secret Service of e-mails sent in May and September of 2013 to nyectf@usss.dhs.gov concerning corruption in law enforcement and government in New York, corruption that could possibly, potentially pose risks to the President of the United States, e.g. "Fwd: is a dirty, fake SUNY Police Chief a risk to safety and security?" May 18, 2013 7:17:47 PM EDT

"there are police chiefs in SUNY who are not mandating policer [sic] officers, certified, whatever. We have police chiefs that refuse to voluntarily give up their fingerprints"
James Lyman, Executive Director of Council 82 for the New York State Law Enforcement Officers Union. (108). http://www.nysenate.gov/files/SUNY%20testimony%20pt.%202.PDF

The U.S. Secret Service has a reputation for investigating even the most unlikely of possible threats to the President of the United States. In spite of that fact, the U.S. Secret Service has permitted the President of the United States to visit campuses belonging to the State University of New York (SUNY) system even though the SUNY Police are notoriously problematic: "SUNY police chiefs serve at the pleasure of the campus president, thus are motivated to keep crime stats down by any means […] SUNY can no longer afford to staff, or overstaff, a body, or overstaff, a body which is subject to inefficiencies, manipulation, cronyism, ill motivation and mismanagement."
Peter Barry, VP & Legislative Director of NYS University Police Officers Union Local 1792 of the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees AFSCME, Council 82 & AFL-CIO. (127-128). http://www.nysenate.gov/files/SUNY%20Testimony%20pt.%203.PDF

The highly problematic nature of SUNY police has been known for years. In spite of that, the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Accreditation Program http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/ops/accred/ accredited police at SUNY Alfred, Buffalo, Cortland, Oneonta, Stony Brook, the University at Albany and the University at Buffalo http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/ops/accred/accredited-agencies.htm

Despite public knowledge of serious problems with SUNY Police, and the awareness of NYS government of such problems, SUNY campuses have nonetheless been visited by the President of the United States and other VIPs. The University at Albany/SUNY Albany Police have implied that they assisted in doing dignitary protection for the President (it seems unlikely that they actually provided dignitary protection for the President):

"Chief J. Frank Wiley with President Bill Clinton, during the March Speaker Series Event" (caption to a photo showing "Chief" Wiley with former President Clinton; "Chief" Wiley failed to swear and file his Oath of Office with the NYS Secretary of State the year he was appointed according to the NYS Department of State in response to a Freedom of Information Law request, and appears to be otherwise professionally, legally, and constitutionally unqualified for the job; under "Chief" Wiley, Wendy Knoebel was given two awards for excellence, one of them given for her "excellence" in the year she failed to solved the disappearance of Suzanne Lyall who is one of at least two UAlbany students who disappeared - students who've never been found.)
"The University at Albany Police Department provided dignitary protection for two major events in 2011. The World Within Reach Speaker Series brought in President Bill Clinton, and former NBA star Earvin 'Magic' Johnson. Both events brought in a packed house at the SEFCU Arena, and were handled flawlessly by UPD staff." http://police.albany.edu/UPDAnnualReport2011.pdf (page 18)

The University at Albany Police Department received its special accreditation from the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Accreditation Program http://police.albany.edu/UPDAnnualReport2011.pdf (page 15) around the time of the fallout of the Raven Arms .25 "junk gun"/"Saturday Night Special" campus firearms violations and improper storage of a departmental weapon involving decorated Investigators Wendy Knoebel and Matthew A. Griffin, the major area drug manufacturing case involving Knoebel and her husband's drug barn at their home in Duanesburg, and just prior to President Obama's visit to campus. The blatant problems with the UAlbany Police department's sexual offender registry still existed at the time the special accrreditation was given:

• Sexual Offender Registry #1 "© 2009 University at Albany"

"There are currently three (4) [sic] registered sex offenders enrolled or working at the University. The following Information has been released:" was followed by a list of six (6) offenders. Accessed: October 19, 2012 Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6BXAjbUOP Accessed: February 19, 2013 Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6EZ55k2vF (it still read © 2009 at that time)
• Sexual Offender Registry #2 No date (probably circa 2007-2008)

"There are currently two (2) registered sex offenders enrolled at the University. The following Information has been released:" was followed by a list of three (3) offenders. Accessed: October 19, 2012 Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6BXAsiiOT http://police.albany.edu/2ColPage.asp?PageSName=SOR2 now redirects to UPD's homepage
There was an audit by the NYS Comptroller's Office in 2007 with a follow-up in 2009 http://osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093009/07s121.htm which found a number of problems, but it evidently failed to take note of the mismanagement of the sexual offender registry. The Registry gets referenced in the Clery Act Report http://police.albany.edu/ASR.pdf on page 53 of the 2011 report, the claim being there that it was being maintained - when clearly (the above archives) it was not being maintained properly. At least part of page 53 was not written for the report but was instead copied and pasted from the website: "The DCJS Sex Offender Registry site may be found on the web (See the link to the right)" (there's no link to the right in the PDF). The obvious error has been retained in the 2012 report on page 58; John M. Murphy, incidentally, is the Clery Act Compliance Officer at UAlbany who has permitted such utterly careless errors and problems to exist in the annual Clery Act report.

No response was sent by the U.S. Secret Service to the sender of the above-described e-mail or to others e-mails, including, but not limited to:

Re: is a dirty, fake SUNY Police Chief a risk to safety and security?
May 18, 2013 11:12:41 PM EDT

Fwd: UUP: "to advance education in a democracy and democracy in education"
May 19, 2013 12:24:30 AM EDT

Fwd: FOIA Request - 13-01195-F
May 19, 2013 1:48:56 AM EDT

Re: State University at New York at Albany corruption
May 21, 2013 2:31:54 AM EDT

SUNY administrators' crimes?
September 12, 2013 12:03:35 PM EDT

Re: SUNY administrators' crimes?
September 12, 2013 12:17:24 PM EDT

Despite the lack of any replies from the U.S. Secret Service to the above-described e-mails or others, I trust that the U.S. Secret Service shares my concerns about the security of SUNY campuses and the safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors at SUNY campuses - even though New York itself evidently does not share those concerns: "the State is not an insurer or guarantor of the safety of SUNYA students"
McEnaney v. State of New York, 267 AD 2d 748 - NY: Appellate Div., 3rd Dept. 1999. http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14949034404515783354 Compliance with this FOIA request will go far in proving faith in the U.S. Secret Service to be justified.

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 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Christopher Philippo

"[The "'fake' Mandela memorial interpreter"] has been arrested at least five times since the mid-1990s, but he allegedly dodged jail time because he was mentally unfit to stand trial. He was accused of rape, theft, housebreaking and malicious damage to property; his most recent brush with the law occurred in 2003 when he faced murder, attempted murder and kidnapping charges."
Zizek, Slavoj. "The 'fake' Mandela memorial interpreter said it all; He claimed an 'attack of schizophrenia' rendered his signing unintelligible, but his performance translated an underlying truth." The Guardian. December 16, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/16/fake-mandela-memorial-interpreter-schizophrenia-signing

Permitting potentially dangerous fakes near the President of the United States is undesirable... essentially the point of the e-mails sent in May and September of 2013 to nyectf@usss.dhs.gov concerning corruption in law enforcement and government in New York, corruption that could possibly, potentially pose risks to the President of the United States, e.g. "Fwd: is a dirty, fake SUNY Police Chief a risk to safety and security?" May 18, 2013 7:17:47 PM EDT. The lack of response to those e-mails and the bureaucratic obstructionism concerning this FOIA request do not seem consistent with the stated vision "to uphold the tradition of excellence in its investigative and protective mission through a dedicated, highly-trained, diverse, partner-oriented workforce that employs progressive technology and promotes professionalism" and mission "to protect national leaders, visiting heads of state and government" http://www.secretservice.gov/mission.shtml