Police complaints data (Vancouver Police Department)

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Thank you for submitting your request for the following public records: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

1. The total number of civilian complaints reported in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 (totals separated by year)
2. The total number of civilian complaints sustained in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 (totals separated by year)

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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Samuel Sinyangwe

Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://accounts.muckrock.com/accounts/login/?url_auth_token=AAAWB0liSTcBl4w91t08KqjXymA%3A1jbziW%3ATlL5xOXmVEB26l8gM2jBBILyOv0&next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.muckrock.com%2Faccounts%2Flogin%2F%3Fnext%3D%252Faccounts%252Fagency_login%252Fvancouver-police-department-7391%252Fpolice-complaints-data-vancouver-police-department-93386%252F%253Femail%253Dvanpd%252540cityofvancouver.us
Your request was received by the City of Vancouver, Washington, Police Records Division and has been assigned reference number P002460-052120 for tracking purposes.
You will be contacted within five (5) business days with an update as to when the responsive records will be available. You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed.
Thank you for your interest in public records.
City of Vancouver, Washington
Police Records

--- Please respond above this line ---
06/01/2020 Sent via email to:  requests@muckrock.com Samuel Sinyangwe MuckRock News DEPT MR 93386 411A Highland Ave Somerville MA 02144 RE: PUBLIC DISCLOSURE REQUEST P002460-052120 Dear Mr. Sinyangwe: This letter is an acknowledgement of your records request dated 5/21/2020 10:12:36 PM, for the following: To Whom It May Concern:Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:1. The total number of civilian complaints reported in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 (totals separated by year)2. The total number of civilian complaints sustained in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 (totals separated by year)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 5 business days, as the statute requires.Sincerely,Samuel SinyangweUpload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://accounts.muckrock.com/a Please log into your GovQA account via the link below to download your materials. The enclosed records are comprised of 24 pages. If you feel that there are any missing documents or additional types of materials that your request sought, which are not included in the enclosed response, please contact me so your request may be clarified. This concludes the City’s response to the above-mentioned request. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Please log into your GovQA account to access these records: https://www.cityofvancouver.us/fms/page/public-records Sincerely, Matt Oftedahl Records Specialist

To monitor the progress or update this request please log into the Vancouver Public Records Center (https://u8387795.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=nZGH0ylxadMp5hTpNkeAFiTImPbGZW8TNO17j6aC-2BysElIkkgYz0iyz-2FkBF9o2kZ1Vb4v-2F8Ul-2FDrNv-2BTs4L7MolsfC8ioOdqGCBgvdLSoJu51QUmfG5Ta5ohmW8Ekp7klzqM_PVVGZyCQUyINaj-2FfFfif1lojTqI8O9j0PJX8LbM5lCXHG-2Fg5dDHd1qI3DB2pcHzzGnqb6w530APMiMNZuTEO9PWLnM-2FgQR-2B4TUfmu5XT2jVMrZxzSRr1LJZizHApVFx40PsYalvMs3NL9YtNECJsQnnZ-2FbdqVrL1hSOj3JJ2oDdOy6asD3GDXloURBYYKDoJDCGN-2BT90O-2F46lmgWNbud9sG6orZsTe3dYvUHWKGs2RfkqfBmatjusbXbGmGgcffm1acAcgzm1nOzR0oKnfVw5EP-2F0zQM8VkMq6ozHlyA9w85aHPF-2FT57YpQ8wtYEBXC2VFL59IOpFhcUWqyDQH9Ts-2BMux0rllqVY-2FygAaItCAJkOQYCl6G8O1Du8kq-2Fj73UO)

Good Morning Samuel Sinyangwe,

The Police Scorecard website (specifically found here: Police Scorecard: Vancouver, WA<https://policescorecard.org/wa/police-department/vancouver>) was recently brought to the attention of the Vancouver Police Department by members of our community.

Of particular note was the number of civilian complaints (935) presented on the scorecard for years 2016-2019. Upon review of the documentation provided by the Police Scorecard regarding civilian complaints and what the scorecard is intending to convey, the data provided to you via a public disclosure request does not seem to be representative of civilian complaints. Specifically, upon review of the data provided, we have identified the following discrepancies:

* Data was provided beyond the scope of the request
* The data was not limited to complaints, it also included other incident types that are not representative of what the Police Scorecard is portraying with regard to civilian complaints (i.e., Inquiries, supervisory referrals, etc.)
* The data was not limited to civilian (external) initiated complaints. The data provided also includes internal complaints made by internal employees.
* Prevalent duplication of complaints
* Resulting in inflation in the data presented versus reality

The following is a snip of some of the data provided through your open portals used to derive the 935 civilian complaints figure. I called out examples of duplicate complaints and irrelevant incident types in red below.

[cid:image004.jpg@01D75932.D4BB71D0]

All of the data you requested was included in the initial response, however, it was not structured or filtered in a manner that truly reflects what was desired. While I appreciate your diligent efforts in detailing the discrepancies that exist between departments in your "about" section of the website (About (policescorecard.org)<https://policescorecard.org/about>), I am not sure that the typical consumer will dive as deeply into the data to understand what they are seeing beyond the top line data.

If you are agreeable, we would like to take the opportunity to provide you with the figures that are representative and accurate to the parameters you detail in your civilian complaints section of the website so that the Police Scorecard can be updated.

Please let me know if this is possible and we will work on providing the data.

Thank you!

Best,

Jaycee Elliott | Crime Analyst

[cid:image005.png@01D75932.D4BB71D0]<http://www.cityofvancouver.us/>

Vancouver Police Department
2800 Stapleton Rd, Vancouver WA 98661

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Mr. Sinyangwe,
Sir, I sent your materials in June of 2020, a year and a half ago. This request is closed. IF you want the materials you speak about in your 06/17/2021 message you will need to file a NEW request.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Matt Oftedahl Records Specialist