Aren Cambre's Praxis Research

Emailed Lieutenant Maret:

Lieutenant Maret,

I am following up to my open records request that was originally routed through Sgt. Jonathan Babina.

I am a graduate doctoral student at Southern Methodist University, and I am conducting terminal praxis research that includes statistical analysis of traffic citation records from several cities.

I understand Balch Springs has concerns about my request because of the sensitive nature of the requested data. Indeed, the Texas Transportation Code Chapter 730 (Motor Vehicle Records Privacy Act) generally prohibits release of a good deal of my requested data. However, section 730.007(e) authorizes disclosure for “use in research or in producing statistical reports, but only if the personal information is not published, redisclosed, or used to contact any individual.”

Assurance of proper use:

• I will comply with the restrictions outlined in the provision.
•  To assure compliance with 730.007(e), my faculty research advisor, Dr. Richard Helgason, sent Sgt. Babina a letter on SMU letterhead on or shortly after August 4, 2009 affirming that this data will be used only for research and statistical purposes.
• The raw data will be stored under AES-256 encryption with a strong key. The NSA approves this approach for top secret information (see http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/cnssp_15_fs.pdf).
• Information protected from disclosure will be destroyed upon termination of research.

For reference, I have received citation information already from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Dallas County, and these cities: Carrollton, Cedar Hill, Dallas, Duncanville, Garland, Grapevine, Highland Park, Irving, Mesquite, Ovilla, Richardson, Rowlett, Sachse, Seagoville, and University Park. Several of these cities responded with direct exports or backup copies of the database(s) that store their traffic citation record and disposition information.

I look forward to your response, and I would be happy to discuss further if I can provide additional assurance.

Thanks,

Aren Cambre, Doctoral Student
Southern Methodist University