Passenger inspection notes photos reports 2017-01-05

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

It is a clone of this request.

Tracking #

PD17-008

Status
Completed

Communications

From: Phil Mocek

To Whom It May Concern:

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 car 305A, at approximately 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 5, 2017. I do not know of any reason for the man who investigated me to have suspected me of fare evasion. He seemed to believe that I had committed fare evasion, demanding proof that I had not violated the law. The man was dressed not in typical train conductor uniform, but in military-style, "tactical" pants and a motorcycle-rider-style jacket similar to those worn by peace officers employed by Washington State Patrol. It seemed an intimidating appearance--not the sort that one would likely expect from friendly and helpful transit staff. Wishing to cooperate with this unknown man and go on about my lawful business without further interference, I searched diligently for such proof of my innocence. During this time, he did not offer to sell fare to me in case I wished to purchase it, leading me to suspect that his goal was not to ensure that all passengers had paid the fare, increasing my anxiety about his investigation of me.

If this unidentified man was, in fact, a public employee, I wish to review the accuracy of any records related to his unwarranted investigations of me and other presumed-innocent transit riders that your staff created during and as a result of those investigations, to verify the suitability for purpose of the machines your staff apparently use to verify fare payment via methods that are completely invisible to those people who are under investigation, to determine whether your investigatory staff are known to be capable of performing these investigations in a lawful and satisfactory manner, and to discover any reports of malfeasance on the part of these staff.

I have observed that people appearing to be Sound Transit staff regularly photograph and make written notes about some passengers during their investigations.

Pursuant to RCW Ch. 42.56 (Public Records Act), I hereby request the following records:
1. The content of those notebooks used by staff who worked the aforementioned train on the aforementioned date
2. The content of those cameras used by staff who worked the aforementioned train on the aforementioned date
3. Images captured by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date that are no longer on their cameras
4. Any electronic "notes" created by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date during the course of performing their job duties on that date
5. All reports filed by the aforementioned staff on that date and/or in regard to their work duties on that date
6. E-mail sent or received by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date
7. Work-related text messages (i.e., SMS messages) sent or received by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date
8. Warnings, notifications, and citations pertaining to suspected fare evasion authored by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date
9. Staff shift roster applicable to the aforementioned train on the aforementioned date
10. Records of certification, licensing, bonding, and training of the aforementioned staff
11. Log of use of hand-held transit pass scanner devices (i.e., database of device's RFID contact with cards, etc.) used by the aforementioned staff on the aforementioned date
12. Records of certification of accuracy of the aforementioned hand-held transit pass scanner device
13. Records of software updates to hand-held transit pass scanner device
14. Notes, memos, e-mails, etc., to fare evasion investigation staff concerning fare evasion investigation policies since November 21, 2016
15. Any complaints received about the aforementioned staff in the past three years, along with investigation files and summaries of outcome

Please prevent staff from destroying these public records--some of which were created just minutes or seconds prior to my filing of this request with you--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 acknowledge your request for documents from January 5, 2017 on the northbound Sounder at approximately 9:00 a.m.:

1. Content of notebooks used by this staff on this date and train;

2. Images captured by this staff on this date;

3. Images captured by this staff on this day that no longer are on their cameras;

4. Electronic notes from this staff on this date;

5. Reports filed by this staff on this date;

6. Email sent or received by this staff on this date;

7. Work related text messages sent or received by this staff on this date;

8. Warnings, notifications, and citations pertaining to suspected fare evasion authored by this staff on this date;

9. Staff shift roster for this train and this date;

10. Records of certification of accuracy of the hand held transit pass scanner device;

11. Log of use of hand held transit pass scanner devices used by this staff on this date;

12. Records of certification of accuracy of the hand held transit pass scanner device;

13. Records of software updates to hand held transit pass scanner device;

14. Notes, memos, emails, etc. to fare evasion investigation staff concerning fare evasion investigation policies since November 21, 2016;

15. Any complaints received about this staff in the past 3 years, along with investigation files and summaries of outcome.

We received your request on January 5, 2017.

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

In regards to records request number PD17-008 for records concerning January 5, 2017, your request was forwarded to the Security Operations Center for staff to search and gather responsive records. Listed below are specific responses to your individual requests:

1. Content of notebooks used by this staff on this date and train.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records.

2. Images captured by this staff on this date.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records. Any pictures used for citations and/or warnings would be included with the court packages.

3. Images captured by this staff on this day that no longer are on their cameras.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records. Any pictures used for citations and/or warnings would be included with the court packages.

4. Electronic notes from this staff on this date.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records.

5. Reports filed by this staff on this date.

Staff located 1 daily activity logs and 1 ticket list report totaling 2 pages. All reports filed by staff are attached.

6. Email sent or received by this staff on this date.
Sound Transit is still in the process of searching for emails and will contact you when we have completed our search.

7. Work related text messages sent or received by this staff on this date.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records.

8. Warnings, notifications, and citations pertaining to suspected fare evasion authored by this staff on this date.

Staff located court packages for 2 citations/warnings totaling 12 pages, which 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).

9. Staff shift roster for this train and this date.

Staff located 1 shift roster totaling 1 pages and it is attached.

10. Records of certification of accuracy of the hand held transit pass scanner device.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records. The scanning devices will either read a card or show a failure to read.

11. Log of use of hand held transit pass scanner devices used by this staff on this date.

Staff located 1 equipment log totaling 1 pages and it is attached.

12. Records of certification of accuracy of the hand held transit pass scanner device.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records. The scanning devices will either read a card or show a failure to read.

13. Records of software updates to hand held transit pass scanner device.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records. The application updates itself.

14. Notes, memos, emails, etc. to fare evasion investigation staff concerning fare evasion investigation policies since November 21, 2016.

Sound Transit is still in the process of searching for emails and will contact you when we have completed our search.

15. Any complaints received about this staff in the past 3 years, along with investigation files and summaries of outcome.

Sound Transit is not in possession of any responsive records.

As noted above, we will contact you when we have concluded the appropriate email searches.

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

This is in response to your request for records from January 5, 2017. In reference to:

6. Email sent or received by this staff on this date.
Staff downloaded the attached PDFs with emails sent and received by the fare enforcement officers from this date.

We are continuing to search our system for emails responsive to number 14. We should have something for you within the next three weeks.

Sincerely,

Leigh Tennison
Assistant to Q'Deene Nagasawa, Public Records Officer
Sound Transit
T: 206.903.7104

Connect with us
Facebook.com/SoundTransit<https://www.facebook.com/SoundTransit/>
Twitter.com/SoundTransit<https://twitter.com/soundtransit>

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From: Tennison, Leigh

This is in response to records request number PD17-008 for records concerning January 5, 2017, specifically item number 14:

14. Notes, memos, emails, etc. to fare evasion investigation staff concerning fare evasion investigation policies since November 21, 2016.

Staff completed a search of all Sound Transit emails using the date parameters between November 21, 2015 and January 5, 2017, and using the search term "fare evasion." We were unable to locate any responsive records.

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

Sincerely,

Leigh Tennison
Project Coordinator
Sound Transit
T: 206.903.7104

Connect with us
Facebook.com/SoundTransit<https://www.facebook.com/SoundTransit/>
Twitter.com/SoundTransit<https://twitter.com/soundtransit>
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