HomeMy WebLinkAboutACLU Taser Data Request June 2009 i
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNII
of MINNESOTA I
Oak Park Heights Police Department
ATTN: Chief Lindy Swanson
14168 Oak Park Blvd N, P.O. Box 2007
Oak Park Heights, MN 55082
Dear Chief Swanson:
In 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota issued your department a Data
Practices Act request concerning your department's use of Tasers. We would like to thank you
for your timely compliance with our request, which we received on August 9, 2007. We are in
the process of updating our records, in anticipation of our final report. To that end, we would
like to obtain from you updated information regarding your department's use of Tasers.
AMERICAN CIVIL
LIBERTIES UNION OF
MINNESOTA FOUNDATION Therefore, pursuant to the Data Practices Act, Minn. Stats. §§ 13.01- 13.99, we hereby request:
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2. The number of times tasers have been used by your department, for every year since
you began using tasers (if you have such statistics readily available); and
3. A description of how your use of force records are organized. For instance, whether
they are in a database and searchable, or whether copies are simply kept in individual
incident reports, if your recordkeeping system has changed since we received your
previous response, on August 9, 2007.
Please feel free to deliver this information to us using whatever means you prefer, including
phone, email, fax, or postal mail. My phone number is (651) 645 -4097 x124; my email
address is jarck @aclu- mn.org; and our fax number is (651) 647 -5948.
As you know, the Data Practices Act allows a charge of $0.25 for the first one hundred (100)
pages of information photocopied. if the cost of providing these items exceeds $25.00, please
contact our office prior to completing this request.
If the information is not immediately available, the ACLU of Minnesota will expect a written
acknowledgement of the request within ten (10) business days. Please contact me if you have
any questions regarding this request.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Jessica Arck
Robina Public Policy Fellow
Brian DeRosier
From: Brian DeRosier
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009 10:59 AM
To: 'jarck @aclu - mn.org'
Subject: Re: Data Request Tasers
Ms. Arc;
ACLU MN
I have received a data request for Taser information from you. The request was received at our office 07-02 -
2009. The request letter was not dated by you.
Specifically in response to your request listed three items of data; I have the following information.
1. Our policy has not changed since the original data was supplied
2. We do not keep separate or searchable statistical data for individual Taser use incidents separate from
the incident case. This data is not readily available as such to provide you with a specific # of uses each
year as you requested.
3. Our use of force records are not data based separately, incident information is kept in the individual case
file. This has not changed since your last request.
This email is your written response and compliance of our department to your request under MN Data Practices
Act. MNSS.
Brian DeRosier
Chief of Police
Oak Park Heights Police Dept.
14168 Oak Park Blvd. North
PO Box 2007
Oak Park Heights, MN 55082
651- 439 -4723
Those that have the ability to right a wrong, have the responsibility to.
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