DCHA Police Roster & Lateral Transfer Data - 23-8-4
| Submitted | Aug. 4, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Sam Stecklow
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the DC Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
This request is brought by Big Local News along with a collaboration of news organizations, including the Invisible Institute, ABC Owned TV Stations, KQED, MuckRock, and other news organizations. Big Local News is a program of Stanford University’s Journalism and Democracy Initiative and helps journalists collect, process and analyze public data.
I am seeking two categories of records: employment roster data, and police lateral transfer data. Here, employment roster data means any spreadsheets or databases showing the names, salaries, positions, date of hire, demographic information, and any other co-located information regarding current AND former employees of DCHA. Lateral transfer data means any spreadsheets or databases showing the names, position, date of hire, and previous employer of all current AND former DCHA police employees who were hired as lateral transfers.
Please provide current AND former employment roster data for the DCHA Police Department and current AND former police lateral transfer data dating back as far as they are maintained in an electronic format.
If your data system contains data elements not listed above, please include them in the response, provided they are releasable under the law. On the other hand, we recognize some of the information we are asking for may not be tracked by your system. If that is the case, we are willing to accept as many of the data elements as your agency maintains. If some records are more readily available, we are happy to receive partial information as soon as possible while the remaining request is processed.
In addition to the data elements listed, we request documentation necessary to understand and interpret the data, including but not limited to record layouts, data dictionaries, code sheets, lookup tables, etc.
Our preference is to receive structured data provided in a machine-readable text file, such as delimited or fixed-width formats. We can also handle a variety of other data formats including SQL databases, Excel workbooks and MS Access. If there are additional formats your agency would prefer to provide, please let us know.
Electronic records such as databases are public under DC FOIA. As the D.C. Court of Appeals has explained:
Electronic records have been subject to D.C. FOIA since the Council extended the statute's coverage through the Freedom of Information Amendment Act of 2000, D.C. Law 13–283, 48 D.C. Reg. 1917 (2001). The Council stated that its intent, “in keeping with the general purpose of FOIA,” was “to provide the public greater access to information, improve the effectiveness of the law, and encourage better government responsiveness to requests for public records.” Committee on Government Operations, D.C. Council, Report on Bill No. 13–829 at 1 (2000). As amended, D.C. FOIA provides that “[i]n responding to a request for records pursuant to this section, a public body shall make reasonable efforts to search for the records in electronic form or format, except when the efforts would significantly interfere with the operation of the public body's automated information system.” D.C. Code Ann. § 2–532(a–2). (Fraternal Order of Police v. District of Columbia, 139 A.3d 853, 866 n.29 (D.C. 2016).)
The salaries of employees and officers of public bodies are public information under D.C. Code § 2-536.
We are seeking this information as a news media organization on a matter of public interest concerning the conduct of government. As such, we ask for a waiver of all fees because the information requested can be considered as primarily benefiting the general public D.C. Code Ann. § 2-532(b). If you do deny the fee waiver request, please do not incur fees above $100.
Thank you
Sam Stecklow
Journalist
Invisible Institute
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 15 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Sam Stecklow
From: District Of Columbia Housing Authority
Good evening, Mr. Stecklow,
I am unclear on the scope of your request. Are you only concerned with employees who are/were police officers? And is there a time period you are looking at?
Thanks,
Eric D. Topor
Associate General Counsel
Office of General Counsel
District of Columbia Housing Authority
e: etopor@dchousing.org<mailto:etopor@dchousing.org>
m: (202) 848-8512
____________________________________
www.dchousing.org<http://www.dchousing.org>
ATTORNEY CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION/CONFIDENTIAL WORK PRODUCT
Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this email and any attachments to it may be legally privileged and include confidential information intended only for the recipient(s) identified above. If you are not one of those intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender or The District of Columbia Housing Authority of that fact by return email, and permanently delete and destroy the email and any attachments to it immediately. Please do not retain, copy or use this email or its attachments for any purpose, nor disclose all or any part of its contents to any other person. Thank you.
From: Sam Stecklow
Hello
Yes, I am only interested in current or former DCHA Police employees. I'm seeking electronic data as far back as they are maintained in a format that can be produced as a spreadsheet.
Let me know if I can further clarify.
Thank you
Sam
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following DC Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 4, 2023. 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: District Of Columbia Housing Authority
Good morning,
Can you clarify what data you mean by “lateral transfer data”?
Thanks,
Eric D. Topor
Associate General Counsel
Office of General Counsel
District of Columbia Housing Authority
e: etopor@dchousing.org<mailto:etopor@dchousing.org>
m: (202) 848-8512
____________________________________
www.dchousing.org<http://www.dchousing.org>
ATTORNEY CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION/CONFIDENTIAL WORK PRODUCT
Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this email and any attachments to it may be legally privileged and include confidential information intended only for the recipient(s) identified above. If you are not one of those intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender or The District of Columbia Housing Authority of that fact by return email, and permanently delete and destroy the email and any attachments to it immediately. Please do not retain, copy or use this email or its attachments for any purpose, nor disclose all or any part of its contents to any other person. Thank you.
From: Sam Stecklow
Hello
Data showing officers who transfer to DCHA PD from other law enforcement agencies, rather than recruits hired by DCHA PD as their first law enforcement position.
Please let me know if I can clarify further.
Thanks
Sam
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following DC Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 4, 2023. 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 DC Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 4, 2023. 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: District Of Columbia Housing Authority
Mr. Stecklow,
This is in response to your FOIA request that was received by the District of Columbia Housing Authority (“DCHA”) for the following documents:
“I am seeking two categories of records: employment roster data, and police lateral transfer data. Here, employment roster data means any spreadsheets or databases showing the names, salaries, positions, date of hire, demographic information, and any other co-located information regarding current AND former employees of DCHA. Lateral transfer data means any spreadsheets or databases showing the names, position, date of hire, and previous employer of all current AND former DCHA police employees who were hired as lateral transfers.”
Under the District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act, D.C. Official Code § 2-532 (2001) (“DC FOIA”), DCHA must make a reasonable effort to locate already existing records. FOIA does not require DCHA to conduct research for requesters, answer written questions, or in any other way create records (such as lists or statistics) to respond to a request. As such, DCHA can only provide requesters with existing documents or records maintained by the agency.
In accordance with DC FOIA, DCHA thoroughly searched the applicable agency records and located documents responsive to your request for employment roster data, which is attached to this communication. DCHA did not find any documents responsive to your request for lateral transfer data.
Regarding any redaction of personal information or withholding of documents, such information or documents may be withheld pursuant to DC Code §2-534(a)(2) to prevent an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
If you consider this response a denial of your request, you are advised that under D.C. Code § 2-537 and 1 DCMR 412, you have the right to appeal to the Mayor or the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
If you elect to appeal to the Mayor, the appeal must be in writing. The appeal letter should cite the "Freedom of Information Act Appeal" or "FOIA Appeal" in the subject line. If you mail the appeal, this should also be on the outside of the envelope. The appeal must include the following:
1. Copy of the original request.
2. Copy of your appeal letter.
3. Statement of appeal that includes the circumstances, reasons, or arguments advanced in support of disclosure.
4. Daytime telephone number, an e-mail address, or a USPS mailing address.
The appeal must be mailed to:
Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel
FOIA Appeal
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 407
Washington, D.C. 20004
In lieu of mailing the appeal via USPS, an electronic version of the appeal can be e-mailed to the Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel instead at foia.appeals@dc.gov<mailto:foia.appeals@dc.gov>. The electronic version must still meet all of the requirements for an appeal.
A copy of all appeal materials must be forwarded to DCHA’s attention at foia@dchousing.org<mailto:foia@dchousing.org>.
Feel free to contact DCHA if you have any additional questions.
Thank you,
Eric D. Topor
Associate General Counsel
Office of General Counsel
District of Columbia Housing Authority
e: etopor@dchousing.org<mailto:etopor@dchousing.org>
m: (202) 848-8512
____________________________________
www.dchousing.org<http://www.dchousing.org>
ATTORNEY CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION/CONFIDENTIAL WORK PRODUCT
Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this email and any attachments to it may be legally privileged and include confidential information intended only for the recipient(s) identified above. If you are not one of those intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender or The District of Columbia Housing Authority of that fact by return email, and permanently delete and destroy the email and any attachments to it immediately. Please do not retain, copy or use this email or its attachments for any purpose, nor disclose all or any part of its contents to any other person. Thank you.
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