Winston-Salem, NC PD Citizen Complaints

Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer filed this request with the Winston-Salem Police Department of Winston-Salem, NC.
Submitted Aug. 22, 2017
Status
Completed

Communications

From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Subject: Public Records Law Request: Winston-Salem, NC PD Citizen Complaints

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to North Carolina Public Records Law (G.S. §§ 132-1 through 132-10), I hereby request the following documents:

We are Economics Professors in the College of Business at Ferris State University, and are engaged in an empirical research project on police behavior and citizen complaints. This project requires us to request data from your department. If you have questions about this request or suggestions, we would be happy to discuss them with you.

1. What is the total number of citizen complaints (allegations of misconduct) made against your department’s officers annually for 2007-2012? If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated).

2. What is the total number of complaints police officers made against their peer officers (sometimes called internal complaints) in department annually for 2007-2012? If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead.

Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated).

3. How many officer-involved-shootings were there per year for the last 10 years in your department (2007-2017)? Any documentation or reports that detail the annual number of officer-involved shootings in your department for the past 10 years would be sufficient.

Please include documentation regarding how many of these officer-involved shootings involved disciplinary action. (Please list officer firearm discharge directed at a person separately from a shooting involving an animal and separately from accidental firearm discharges).

Please include the number of officer-involved shootings resulting in discipline.

4. Which of the above data are published publicly? Please provide a link to any and all publicly available reports containing the data above.

Collecting this information is very important to our research, so we would like to emphasize, if you have questions about my request or suggestions, we would be happy to discuss them with you.

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 would request your response within ten (10) business days.

Sincerely,

Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

From: Winston-Salem Police Department

Subject: Records Request - Ferris State University

Email

Mr. Cartwright and Ms. Dirmeyer:

Your request for records was among many I found in my junk/spam folder recently. We will respond to your request as soon as possible with any responsive records that are available to the public.

Thank you.

Lori

City of Winston-Salem
ONE TEAM
Committed to Excellence

All e-mails including attachments sent to and from this address are subject to being released to the media and the public in accordance with the North Carolina Public Records Law.

From: Winston-Salem Police Department

Subject: RE: North Carolina Public Records Law Request: Winston-Salem, NC PD Citizen Complaints

Email

Mr. Cartwright and Ms. Dirmeyer:

Thank you for your patience as I have followed up on your email (again, which was only recently found in my junk/spam folder).

Please see the attached document with the information you requested, and let me know if you need anything further.

Lori

From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Subject: RE: North Carolina Public Records Law Request: Winston-Salem, NC PD Citizen Complaints

Email

Lori,

I am writing to follow up on my original request made on 8/29/17.

Thank you very much for providing the information we requested. I am writing to ask for some clarification regarding the data on officer-involved shootings you provided us with. What constitutes an officer-involved shooting in your department? For example, some departments do not count misses while others count all discharges; some include shots at animals. Other departments include intentional and accidental shootings; others do not. Some include all discharges and some exclude missed shots. Please explain to us how your department classifies the OIS included in the numbers you sent to us.

Very Respectfully, Alex Cartwright

From: Winston-Salem Police Department

Subject: RE: North Carolina Public Records Law Request: Winston-Salem, NC PD Citizen Complaints

Email

I checked with our Professional Standards Division as to your follow-up question and they advised that, according to our policies, an officer-involved shooting includes:

An officer shooting at a suspect (even if the suspect is not hit);
An officer wounding or killing a suspect; and
An officer wounded or killed by a suspect.

Our agency does not consider an accidental discharge of a weapon to be an officer-involved shooting unless the discharged round accidentally hits a person or causes considerable damage to property.

From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

Subject: RE: North Carolina Public Records Law Request: Winston-Salem, NC PD Citizen Complaints

Email

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer

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