Passenger inspection notes photos reports 2016-08-25

Phil Mocek filed this request with the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority of Washington.

It is a clone of this request.

Status
Completed

Communications

From: Phil Mocek

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to RCW Ch. 42.56 (Public Records Act), I hereby request the following records:

One or more people who appeared to be transit agency staff but did not identify themselves investigated most or all riders (including me) on the northbound Sounder passenger train from Tacoma to Seattle, including the second car from front (307 A), at approximately 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, August 25, 2016. I do not know of any reason for the man who investigated me to have suspected me of fare evasion. Upon my invitation to do so, he did not articulate any reason to suspect me of having violated any law or transit agency rule. If this unidentified man was, in fact, a public employee, I wish to review the accuracy of any records related to his unwarranted investigation of me and/or to your staff's investigations of other presumed-innocent transit riders on this trip.

I have observed that people appearing to be Sound Transit staff regularly photograph and make written notes about some passengers during their investigations. I request:
- The content of those notebooks used by staff who worked the aforementioned train on the aforementioned date
- The content of those cameras used by staff who worked the aforementioned train on the aforementioned date
- Images captured by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date that are no longer on their cameras
- Any electronic "notes" created by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date during the course of performing their job duties on that date
- All reports filed by the aforementioned staff on that date and/or in regard to their work duties on that date
- Warnings, notifications, and citations pertaining to suspected fare evasion authored by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date
- Staff duty roster applicable to the aforementioned train on the aforementioned date

Please prevent staff from destroying these public records prior to your making them available to the public. RCW 42.56.100 states, "If a public record request is made at a time when such record exists but is scheduled for destruction in the near future, the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives shall retain possession of the record, and may not destroy or erase the record until the request is resolved."

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,

Phil Mocek

From: Tennison, Leigh

This will confirm your request for the following documents from August 25, 2016 at approximately 8:45 a.m. on the northbound Sounder passenger train from Tacoma to Seattle, including the second car from the first (307A):

1. Content of those notebooks used by staff who worked the aforementioned train;
2. The content of cameras used by staff who worked same;
3. Images that are no longer on their cameras;
4. Any electronic notes created by staff;
5. All reports filed by staff;
6. Warnings, notifications, and citations pertaining to suspected fare evasion authored by staff; and,
7. Staff duty roster.

In your fax, you stated that you had sent this request on August 25, 2016. We received this on September 1, 2016. You can also submit requests through our website following this link:

http://www.soundtransit.org/Contact-Us/Request-for-records/public-disclosure-request-form

Given our staffs' workload, vacation schedules, and the number of requests we are currently handling, we estimate that it will take another 4-5 weeks to identify and to gather additional responsive records. We will contact you when we have completed our search.

Sincerely,

Leigh Tennison
Assistant to Q'Deene Nagasawa, Public Records Officer
Sound Transit
401 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA. 98104
leigh.tennison@soundtransit.org<mailto:leigh.tennison@soundtransit.org>
T: 206.903.7104
F: 206.398.5222

From: Tennison, Leigh

We have identified the responsive documents to your request below. With respect to:

1. There are no notebooks used by staff.
2. Staff did not take any pictures.
3. See 2.
4. Staff did not create any electronic notes.
5. All reports filed by staff are attached.
6. Court packages for 2 citations/warnings are attached. Any drivers' license numbers have been redacted and are exempt from disclosure under RCW 42.56.330(5), RCW 42.56.230 and RCW 9.35.005(1)(c).
7. The shift roster is attached.

This completes our response to this request and we will close this file.

Sincerely,

Leigh Tennison
Assistant to Q'Deene Nagasawa, Public Records Officer

Files

pages

Close