Aren Cambre's Praxis Research

Analyzed Balch Springs spreadsheets and found that they are missing these fields:

• Identifier of defendant (usually driver’s license #).
• Defendant’s city and state.
• Defendant’s vehicle information.
• Date and time of citation.
• Address of violation.

Emailed Deborah and aksed if that data could be included.

Deborah sent a spreadhsheet for citations written in 2003. The spreadsheet data was copied and pasted into the body of the email (making it very challenging to parse). Asked if she could instead save the spreadsheet files and attach them. Also found some missing fields.

Deborah Jessup said that she has a report that covers most of the requested information but that her computer doesn't have enough memory to send the whole report. She said she is working with IT staff and it could be next week before she is able to produce the report.

I replied saying that is OK.

Send open records request to Deborah Jessup (djessup@cityofbalchsprings.com), Director of Court Services.

Replied to Babina that I had not submitted the request yet but hoped to do it soon.

Spoke with Babina over phone and determined that BSPD computer systems actually do not have the needed data--they only really have crash data. I need to instead direct my request to the Balch Springs Municipal Court.

Emailed Sgt. Babina that Lt. Maret gave me the attorney's authorization.

Wrote Lt. Maret again to clarify a statement in my prior email.

Maret responded from his Blackberry that he will give me contact info for the city attorney when he returns to his office.

Emailed Maret with "I would like to get this request wound up. I would like to understand any remaining issues that are blocking fulfillment."

Maret replied with "Yes I received it." from his Verizon Wireless BlackBerry.

I responded with "Thank you. Let me know if I can provide any additional information to help satisfy any questions."

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

Realized I never called Babina on Monday. Emailed him that I will call next Monday.

Sent Babina email checking on status.

Phone call with Sgt. Babina. He is concerned at how long this has taken, but I assured him that I am not in a rush.

Emailed Sgt. Babina for status update.

Per his request, emailed Sgt. Babina a copy of the open records agreement I did for the Texas DPS.

Phone call with Sgt. Babina. He is quite helpful. I need to send them a printed letter and a statement from my research advisor.