Aren Cambre's Praxis Research

Records received.

Veronica Lomas emailed me an invoice for $3.88 for the red light camera records.

Darrell responded that RedFlex will be able to produce the responsive data.

Julie says they have received the responsive data from Redflex and asked how to give it to me. I gave her some options, and the data was shortly presented.

Notified Dean Habel and Julie Pandya, notifying them of OR2011-05433 and OR2011-09852 and the TAG Open Records Division's Cost Administrator's response.

Turns out that Lewisville only has a tiny sliver(s?) in Dallas County. Given the challenge of dealing with uncooperative jurisdictions, I am dropping this city from my research.

Got response from Cost Rules Administrator on my complaint of overcharges. She upheld my complaint.

Duncanville's attorney had already contacted her several weeks ago; this is just confirmation of what was already known to me and Duncanville.

Emailed Dara, telling her check is in the mail. Provided a link that she can use to upload the data.

With some back and forth, we determined that the link I provided did not work for Dara. 

Dara said they are waiting to receive the responsive information from Redflex and that the total cost will be $114 at $28 per hour.

Asked Alice for status on my June 22 requests. Reminder her of the 10 day deadline to respond, which she is currently violating.

(Later...) That email bounced: [98.129.184.3] #<[98.129.184.3] #5.0.0 smtp; 5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-'5.7.1 <aholloway@cityofwilmer.com>: Relay access denied.' (delivery attempts: 0)> #SMTP#

Sent similar email to wilmercityhall@cityofwilmer.com.

Chase wrote back (2 days after my deadline expired), saying:

1. ORD 684 (2009) does not address my case. It only discusses §552.130(b), Government Code, which does permit disclosure to me.
2. My review of correspondence between me and Ferris (including Chase) finds several violations of the law.
3. I already filed a complaint with the attorney general's office.

Emailed Chase, Doug Childers (doug.childers@ci.ferristx.us), Pat Bradley (doug.childers@ci.ferristx.us), and Eric Strong (doug.childers@ci.ferristx.us) with these points:

• By declining to request an attorney general decision over the exception to disclosure, Ferris is violating the law.
• I expect a response within 3 business days indicating whether Ferris will comply with the law.

Called Utility Data Systems for a third time. Reached president Charles Porter. Charles said that a city official (either the city judge or city attorney--cannot recall) asked him to discuss no details with me. He said he could confirm nothing about my technical questions about the sales order.

Called Wilmer back to find a city judge or attorney. Was directed to the court (972-441-6372). The lady who answered said the city attorney is Michael Hollis, but she said I need to direct questions back to Alice Holloway, the city secretary, but she won't be in until tomorrow afternoon.

Emailed Alice asking for more details on the issues blocking resolution of this request.

Informed Alexis that I will be objecting to the proposed $700 charge to the Texas Attorney General's Open Records Division.

Asked Alice what court records management system they use.

Alice Holloway returned my check with the attached letter, stating that "the software we currently utilize is not compatible with the program for which you sent your check". They are offering to let me come in person and view the documents.

Alexis sent copies of three letters (attached) that were also mailed. One is to the Texas Attorney General, another is to Redflex, and a third is to me.

I wrote Alexis back, explaining that the Excel spreadsheet is not the responsive data as it does not include the facts of each red light violation. I also said that I would appreciate them initiating an Attorney General opinion on whether I may get license plate numbers.

Alexis wrote back with:

I will forward you a copy of the sample in the electronic format I received it in.  As mentioned in our letter dated April 22, 2011, if this sample does not satisfy your request, you will need to respond to our request for clarification of your April 15, 2011 letter.  If this sample is not sufficient and you submit a clarification of your request, I anticipate that we will seek an Attorney General opinion concerning whether the license plate numbers are excepted from disclosure or, as you have asserted, would be subject to release per Section 730.007.  You will have the opportunity to submit your opinion on the matter to the Attorney General at that time.

She later submitted a copy of some data in Excel format. (The data is a summary of monthly activity and is not usable for this project.)

I emailed Stephen with these points:

Noticed that check never got deposited. Spoke with Alice Holloway, and she says she deposits checks within a day of receipt.

Alexis Allen provided the attached response over email along with this note in the email:

Attached is the City of Duncanville's response to your April 15, 2011 Public Information Act request.  Per your request, I have attached as the last page a sample of the report offered as option 1 in our earlier cost estimate.  Please let us know if this will satisfy your request.  In the event that it does not satisfy your request, we have asked that you clarify the request.

Received attached notice from Texas Attorney General saying that my open records request has been withdrawn.

Emailed Alexis Allen, CCing Dara Crabtree, saying that this was a complete surprise and that all along I was under the impression we are awaiting an open records opinion on Duncanville's February 8, 2011 letter to the Texas Attorney General.

Alexis wrote back, emphasizing "You must respond in writing to this estimate of charges within thirty (30) business days of your receipt of this estimate or your request will be deemed automatically withdrawn."

I wrote Dara, CCing Alexis, asking for the simpler feed outlined in their response to my original proposal.

Alexis wrote back, saying:

As we’ve discussed in previous emails, your January 27, 2011 request has been deemed automatically withdrawn based on your failure to respond to the cost estimate within 30 days.  Therefore, if you still would like the information you will need to submit a new request in writing, listing the information you are requesting, and we will respond accordingly.  

Veronica Lomas provided Redflex's response to Coppell (attached).

Darrell wrote back with:

Aren: Cynthia has passed along your comments below and I appreciate you clarifying that the City does not have the information you seek which would be responsive to your Request (# 10394).  I will make sure that the City seeks cooperation from Redflex in responding to your Request and will reference the data details you provide. I will make sure you are copied on the letter to Redflex. Thanks. Darrell Noga

Sylvia provided the list. (See attached.)

Mailed check.

Dolle provided invoice for $125 for the data.

Lyn Hill wrote back with:

We are working on your request, but we are unable to determine how long it will take ATS to deliver the information, and we cannot guarantee the format of the information.

Dolle confirmed receipt of my email. She had not seen my Jan. 14 request. She will contact LT Systems soon.

Resubmitted open records request to Ms. Ball, this time referencing Texas Attorney General Open Records Opinion OR2010-08825 (link) and clarifying the points of confusion Redflex has had with my prior requests.

Mailed appeal to Texas Attorney General.

I wrote Jolene:

I’d like all data on hand, which should be from 2003 through now. I say 2003 because that is when I understand Garland started its red light camera program.

Jolene wrote back, confirming that 2003 is the correct program start date.

Received attached letter from Duncanville's attorney. Now they are proposing to charge $700 for producing the data.

Emailed Chase Griffith, pointing out that I requested a backup copy of a MySql database, not copies of paper case records.

Jolene Geurian asked for dates for which I want the data.

Coppell claims not to have any of the requested data and says I will have to contact RedFlex directly. See attachment.

Marivi hadn't received the research verification from my faculty research advisor. My advisor was a little delayed; he will send the letter tomorrow.

I wrote back to Lyn with these points:

• The data omits a lot of important details.
• Request to have the vendor re-run the query and include more fields.
• I would be happy to work with ATS directly but need Lyn to explicitly authorize this with ATS staff.

Emailed Julie Pandya (Nichols, Jackson, Dillard, Hager & Smith LLP) to ask how we can get this resolved.

I wrote back to Dianna and copying Sonja Land saying that the request is for Mesquite's electronic citation data that Redflex is storing on Mesquite's behalf in Redflex systems. I asked them to make the request directly to Redflex.

Jolene Geurian wrote back with:

The City has received your request, a copy of which is attached.  The responsive report will need to be prepared by the City’s Information Technology Department, and a representative of that department has been advised of the request.  You will receive additional correspondence when the information is available.

Lyn Hill replied with the data. The data only had these fields:

• DOCUMENT_NUMBER
• VIOLATION_NUMBER
• VIO_DATE
• VIO_TIME
• IDENT_PLATE
• FINE_AMOUNT

Lyn said I can contact ATS for assistance.

Red light camera data provided with this caveat from Susan Nguyen, Open Records Specialist, Richardson Police Department:

Please be advised that pursuant to Attorney General Open Records Decision No. 684 issued on December 14, 2009, we have redacted only Texas license plate numbers from the information you seek .  All responsive information has been prepared for release to you without further redaction.

Dean asked I work directly with their attorney, Julie Pandya.

Per a phone call with Dean Habel, Redflex is dealing with the several simultaneous requests from me (correct since I have requested red light camera data from all cities in Dallas County). This has escalated to Redflex's attorney. It sounds like I may receive a letter from Redflex, although Dean said his attorneys are working to speedily resolve this request, too.

Kathy reminded me that she did in fact respond on January 7. (The response is now noted below.) She is still waiting to hear from the court administrator what they can produce.

Lyn Hill asked for time frame and if I can accept redacted data. I said I need license plate details and that I want all violations.

Routed thank you letter to Brandi through research advisor.

Dean Habel from Farmers Branch PD called at 9:26 AM. He is investigating how to pull all the data. He said a lot of cities use the same vendors, so if I got data from other cities, there is probably a way to do it.

Dean called back at 2:24 PM. He asked if I could withdraw the request because it was kind of vague (per the city attorney, who got copied on the original request). He will still work on fulfilling what he thinks is the intent of my request, and he will call on Monday so that I can send a more precise request. I sent an email to him with this as the body:

Per our phone call, I am withdrawing this request as we will work towards a more precise request next week.

Routed thank you letter to Celia through research advisor.

Emailed Cathy clarifying the request.

Cathy replied back with:

Thanks Aren.  I've forwarded your request to Sgt. Eric Hansen in our Police Department for response.

Eric later replied with concerns that this could require "several hours researching and populating a database with the information you requested". He will work with the vendor to find more info.

Routed second thank you letter through faculty research advisor.

Emailed Shanae clarifying the request.

She wrote back saying she forwarded the request to Irving's manager of open records.

Sonja asked for more details on timeframes and data requested. Wrote her back with clarification.

John Ellison of Rowlett replied with:

The information that is being requested is proprietary and can only be released by ACS who actually has control of the data.  In order to get the information, Ms. Cambre would have to contact ACS direct.

He gave me contact info for a person at ACS.

I wrote back, saying that TPIA does not apply to private companies, so I am unable to do so. I also pointed out that Dallas, which also uses ACS, provided me the requested data for $48.80.

John wrote back saying he would talk to ACS directly.

Routed thank you letters for Michael and Travis through faculty research advisor.

Emailed Libby Ball asking for red light camera and court records management software data.

Emailed Cindee Peters requesting red light camera violation data.

Emailed Cathy DiMaggio asking for red light camera data.

Emailed Sonja Land asking for red light camera data.

Emailed Susie Quinn asking for red light camera data.

Through an attorney, Ferris appealed my open records request to the Texas Attorney General. Letter attached. (This is standard procedure for when a jurisdiction does not feel the open records request is proper.)

Sylvia said it may be a little bit before she can get back. I assured her it's OK to take several days.

Wrote Sylvia asking for some details on the data.

Mark uploaded the requested data.

Emailed Dolle Downe, letting her know that, per conversation with Hutchins, LT Systems will export their ticket data for $125. Asked her to contact Alton Lasiter of LT Systems to get this request completed.

Spoke with Patricia again. She is going to check with LT Systems on the $125 vs. $450 issue and see what happened with the data that I never received. I will check up with her on Friday.

Larissa said it may take a few days. I told her next week is fine.

Larissa provided requested data, but it's in Excel 4 format and limited to 16,384 rows, so data got cut off. Requested she do 4 years at a time and resubmit.

Called 972-225-6121 and spoke with Patricia Morado, Cheryl Wesley's replacement. Explained that I had never received the requested data even after paying for it last February. With her consent, I faxed over all details I had on hand (a copy of the check, this electronic log for Hutchins, and a print of an email chain between the vendor LT Systems and me substantiating costs).

Emailed Doug Childers with a formal request of a backup copy of their MySql database.

Emailed Mark Bills again. I suggested he just give me entire copies of the database tables and allow me to do all data linking myself.

Emailed Victor Kemp and asked what we need to do to get this open records request resolved.

Requested data on Texas Reference Marker System that will allow me to locate latitude and longitude for reference markers. Emailed the request to Michael Chamberlain at mchamb1@dot.state.tx.us.

Requested "electronic copy of the certified mileage of every roadway for which TxDOT has certified mileage" from Government and Public Affairs Division.

Asked Jason why the ticket data includes no DUIs. He responded that DUIs go to county courts.

Debra Vermillion uploaded the data to an internal TxDOT file transfer system for me to download.

Sylvia Littleton, Program Manager in the Dallas Police Department, acknowledged receipt of my request and asked for clarification on a few fields.

I responded back saying just to give me all fields.

Sylvia responded with "I understand your request but again I do not have this information in the requested format.  I’ll forward cost information to you once I have it.  Thank you." (I requested Excel or another electronic format.)

I asked what format she has.

Received response from Ferris in the US mail. Main points:

• Ferris uses Brazos Technology ticket writers
• Ferris's police department uses TCI software, which has a MySql database.
• Court records are apparently hand-written.

(Ferris's response will not be on this web site because it contains some personally-identifying information.)

Bill Pollock emailed saying the extract is complete and awaiting payment and pickup. New amount is $85.37.

Check with Cheryl Wesley if LT Systems had given her the data yet to send to me. She was unaware of anything.

Sample data provided for 2009. Looks like the Speed Limit, Alleged Speed, Fine Due, Cost Due, and Total Due fields may be mostly empty. Emailed back and asked if their Incode has better data. If not, will accept the feed as is for other years.

Called Shalonda (972-544-2110). Asked for the info that Doug had provided her. After lengthy hold (> 6 minutes), she said that all she got was about 5 pages of sample data (my interpretation). She is presenting it to the city attorney to see what can be released to me.

I asked her if it can be faxed to our departmental fax machine, and she said that should be OK.

She asked if any fees had been discussed with me, and I said that fees would be unusual for such a small job. She didn't respond to that.

Emailed Doug back basically asking if he intended for Shalonda to only have this sample data and not any electronic exports.

Notified Dolle Downe that LT Systems will get them an invoice soon.

Dolle Downe wrote:

I checked with the Court Administrator.  We have not received a new invoice.

Called for Tania Bence. She was not in, but was given a new number: 214-339-4141. She will be in on Saturday.

All requested data emailed by Liz Hopkins.

Called Eva Morales and asked if she could try the new method that Tyler Technologies gave me. She said she would be willing to try it. I shortly emailed her the instructions.

Dave sent another file for review. I wrote back that it's missing a few fields. Dave then sent another file, but it, too was missing a few fields. Gave him a list of additional fields to satisfy request.

Emailed Celia with Incode instructions that should allow her to dump the data herself.

Emailed Dolle asking if she had received the updated invoice yet.

Scott wants me to talk with Sunnyvale's Director of Finance and Administration, Dave Cranford.

I replied with my phone number.

Dave later emailed a PDF of what Incode can provide. I wrote back saying that an Incode sales rep said it should be possible to choose Excel instead of PDF for any report. Dave replied that he had worked with an Incode support person for 30 minutes the prior day and that:

Two export files are created when you click the export file prompt. One file, a summary, can be exported into an excel format (see 1st file above). I assume the detail is in the other report which is an XML format and neither I nor the support person could get it open.

Dave also emailed a sample Excel file that he was able to produce from Incode.

Larissa Ward responded with the attached invoice from Tyler Technologies for $3,250.

Emailed Tania Bence at both her cchpd.com and hotmail.com addresses to see what's going on.

Asked Doug Childers for status update.

Spoke with Cheryl Wesley to confirm progress. She confirmed recently talking to Kim from LT Systems but did not recall a discussion about the lowered price ($125). I said I will ask LT Systems to contact her.

Sent new email to Sheila again asking for the data omitted from the original request.

Rosie emailed saying that they are sending three CDs marked by dates.

Per Deborah Jessup: "I have not been able to find a report that brings up vehicle info, def address, and address of violation. I will keep looking."

Emailed her back asking for verification on whether I should have received spreadsheets 1, 7, and 8. She replied saying that I probably got all information and that this was just an artifact of how she was saving the files.

Received latest data from Coppell. Is in Excel spreadsheet, but data was cut off at 1/21/2009. Coppell used the legacy Excel file format, which is limited to 65,535 rows. Emailed Rosie asking for new spreadsheet.

Per Rosie: "The information should be delivered in the morning."

Asked Rosie for update.

Called 214-330-6333 for Tania Bence. Was told that she is out until Monday.

Called 972-441-6565 (direct # to Wilmer PD) but was told that Chief Kemp is out and will return on Monday.

Package arrived, but data is only 1/1/2005 to 11/11/2005.

Rosie responded with "My apologizes for the delay,   I will look into this immediately. You should have received all violations to date beginning  January 1, 2005 ( we are only required to keep records five years back).   I have no idea why we have had such a problem submitting this information."

Dolly responded with a $450 invoice and needs a 50% deposit. I replied that I worked out a lower price with their contractor and will work with them to get a new invoice to them.

Asked Deborah if she is using Incode. She confirmed she is and shared some details on the challenges of getting the data to work correctly.

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.

Emailed Chief Kemp again and asked if the request is still progressing.

Deborah Jessup rejected my request becuase I had a clerical error and wrote Hutchins instead of Balch Springs.

I emailed new request.

Deborah responded, saying that she could not find a repor that has all the information I requested, but she will see if she can pull multiple reports. She provided a sample PDF that report shows a sum of all citations and fines assessed, grouped by citation type.

Rosie Caballero left voice message saying Coppell can't electronically submit the data to me, so I need to pay the full $120.68.

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

Check to Hutchins prepared.

Larissa wrote back with:

I have not received the written quote back yet from our software company. As soon as I receive that I will forward a copy on to you.

Babina emailed requesting me to call him on Monday. He was going to contact the court system vendor, who also supplies the PD software, and see what it will take to produce the data.

Larissa Ward, Court Clerk, took on the email and responded with:

            Good morning. Othel has forwarded your email on to me regarding your request for records. Unfortunately, we do not use an external contractor to produce any of our data. I have spoken with the business analyst for our software company and he states that for a custom report would begin at a cost of $2500.00 to create. I forwarded him directly the open records request that you placed for him to review. Based on that request that is the quote he provided me. He was also able to verify that with our software there is not a report that has the ability to produce that specific data.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly.

I replied with:

Thank you. That exceeds my grant funds availability, so I would be happy to rescind the full request if you can forward me the email from the vendor substantiating the charges.

Do you have other reports that can approximate the requested data?

Received mailed invoice for $90 labor.

Othel responded with:

I am so very sorry for the long delay on your records request.   We have recently gotten new computer software and to produce this information, they have advised us that custom reports are a minimum of $2500 for custom developments.  Please advise us if you want us to go any further with this request.

Got call from Tania Bence, Cockrell Hill Records Administrator, from 214-339-1976. Acknowledged receiving request in July but had no record of it. Was OK with me emailing the request to her directly; she said I should send to her hotmail.com address. Email was sent right after the call.

Tania later emailed from her hotmail.com address and asked that I send the request to her at tbence@cchpd.com.

Sheila gave a lenghty repsonse that indicates she and her IT staff misinterpreted my request. Wrote back simply asking if their court records system contains speed limits in addition to alleged speeds.

Emailed Dolly Shane with this:

Back in October we discussed an open records request (attached) for traffic ticket information. We agreed to wait for a similar request to work through Desoto because they use the same system as you. We wanted to make sure it was going to work before beginning with Lancaster.

That request has been completed, so I’d like to revisit my original request. I worked with a deputy court clerk in Desoto; she is going to notify her supervisor that the job is complete, and I believe that supervisor will contact her counterpart in Lancaster to let you know of the status.

Please let me know if I can provide any other information.

Rosie Caballero left a voice message that they continue to work on the request. Charges will be $2.50/CD plus staff charges. Still determining amount of charge.

Returned call to Rosie (972-304-3651), left voice message saying I appreciate the work and offered a secure alternative to writing to CD.

Called Shalonda. She says IT guy is setting up a new traffic ticket records system and that is delaying her fulfilling this request. She will talk to him tomorrow. Says that the traffic ticket records system has changed since I last called and that police are using new system to issue tickets (if I understood her correctly?), but still maintains there are no electronic records available.

Called city switchboard at 972-225-6121, was transferred to Janis Daniels.

Explained situation, her first question was, "Are you paying for it?" (I said "yes.")

Janis transferred me to City Clerk Cheryl Wesley.

Cheryl said it will not be possible to fulfill the request because they do not have the staff. I told her that is not an allowable reason to deny the request and that a denial will have to be filed with the Texas Attorney General.

Cheryl then said that Municipal Judge Tina Yoo instructed her not to respond. [This may violate state law that mandates a response!]

Cheryl said that Tina Yoo will next be in on February 9. I asked if I would hear back from her on or before Feb. 11, and she said "possibly."

Cheryl also confirmed that the city uses an electronic system to manage all their court records and that traffic tickets are entered into the court system.

Called main switchboard (972-441-6373).

Transferred to Alice Holloway, City Secretary. Alice said it will be a large request because of research time. I assured her I only need the data that is already electronic (not needing non-electronic data) and that most of the time it was just an export from the court system.

Alice said Police Chief Kemp manages this data system. She says that he mailed me a cost estimate [no such cost estimate has been received here].

Transferred me to the police dispacher, who took a message for me and promised to put it on Kemp's desk.

Chief Kemp called me later in the day and apologized for the delay and explained that the request may have been lost due to some changes in the city. I assured him I am not worried about the (statutorily-required) 10 day response time.

I emailed Kemp a copy of the open records request.

Brandi emailed me the data and asked for confirmation of receipt.

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.

Kathy responded, saying that they have no report that has all the information I requested. However, Lewisville has requested their court records management system vendor provide a program that will include the remaining information. She will let me know once she hears back from them.

Thank you letter routed through faculty research advisor.

Asked Kathy for follow up on October request.

Emailed Sheila again since I had not heard back from my November question.

Deborah Vermillion said they can provide 2003-2008 now and 2009 in July 2010. Upon my request, she uploaded the files to my locker.smu.edu secured space.

Asked faculty research advisor to send research verification letter to Coppell.

Thank you letter routed through research advisor.

Routed thank you letter through research advisor.

Thank you letter routed through research advisor.

Thank you letter routed through research advisor.

Emailed Eva with "Thank you. It looks like you may be using the same software as Sachse?

Do the other reports have other pieces of the requested data? It would be OK to provide multiple reports as long as there is a way to cross-reference the data.

For example, the report you provided has citation numbers, like E18308-01. As an example, it would be OK to have a separate report that has the violation’s address as long as it also had the citation number, allowing me to cross-reference the reports."

Brandi Hodges advised that the "requested information will not be available until approx. January 15" due to planned system upgrades. Wanted confirmation this is OK before depositing my check.

Emailed Stephanie and Eva thanking them for their responses and wondered if Eva had time to review the other reports?

Got a call from Desoto city prosecutor Samantha Gowans that they are ready to fulfill my request and that they can deliver all fields. I am to call Veronica Chasten to get address.

Called Veronica at 214-230-9679 to get address. $450 payment will be sent to:

Municipal Court
City of DeSoto
211 E Pleasant Run Rd.
DeSoto, Tx 75115

Steven provided 2006, 2007, and 2009 data.

Stephanie Calame emailed with "I checked with our IT department to see if our court software uses SQL and I was told that it does not use SQL or Oracle.  The report that Eva sent you is the only report that we can pull from that software that would show the information you are requesting.  The only way that I can think of to get all of the information that you are requesting would be to manually pull all of the tickets five years back, since that is how far back we keep them, and then we would manually have to go in and redact the information that the judge feels like we should not release (ex: drivers license number, etc.).  I am not sure if this answers your questions or not.  Eva is out today but will be back Monday so if she has anything to add to this email (I cc’ed her above) she will add it then.  I hope you have a good weekend."

Sent more detailed request for crash data.

Called Latrice Johnson back. Left message on her voice mail.

Called for Shalonda, but she had already left for the day.

Steven Cherry says they will work on it that night.

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."

Mailed letter to Latrice Johnson.

Mailed letter to Janis G. Daniels, City Secretary.

Mailed letter to Alice Holloway, City Secretary.

No response from Maret, asked for him to confirm email receipt.

Emailed Eva asking for update on progress.

Noted to Celia that sample data is missing these fields:

• Identifier of issuing officer. OK to limit to officer’s name, badge number, or similar code that allows for correlation of citation to specific officer.
• Defendant’s driver’s license number. (I can affirm compliance with the state law that allows dissemination of this for academic purposes.)
• Defendant’s vehicle information.
• More precision on violation address, at least enough to pinpoint to a particular block or near an intersection.
• Date of disposition.
• Reason for motorist arrest (pullover). May or may not be same as citations issued. (E.g., motorist pulled over for speeding 20 over, but officer “wrote down” citation to 10 over or instead wrote paperwork or equipment violation citation.)

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

Check mailed to Garland.

Celia reports "I am still working on it.  We are looking into changing our server due to some other issues that have come up with data gathering and should know in the next few days what alternatives I have.  Sorry I haven't kept you posted, but I have been working on it."

Checked to see if Mark Bills had gotten anywhere with his investigation of missing data.

Clark Richardson and I traded emails and agreed on data format, scope of data, and how to get the data to me.

All data successfully received.

Kathy provided data, but it is missing these fields:

• If speeding violation, speed limit and alleged speed.
• Defendant’s race and sex.
• Defendant’s vehicle information.
• Defendant’s city, state, and ZIP.
• Time of citation.
• Citation disposition (e.g., guilty, innocent, nolo contendere, went to appeals court, deferred disposition, defensive driving)
• Date of disposition.

Asked her to investigate feasibility of providing this data.

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

Asked Brandi to expand on her statement on confidentiality of open cases. I am unaware of any such general restriction.

Shalonda said she hasn't been able to get with their IT guy because he is a contract employee and she is never sure of his schedule. I said I'll check up again in about a week.

They continue to work on the problem, but are running into issues. The IT guy should be back tomorrow.

Asked Kathy to update me on status.

Jason submitted all requested data 2004-2009.

Asked if he has data before 2004, but they only retain data according to the state 5 year guideline, so may need to check with police department for more ticket info.

Received data dump from Irving, but it was missing the violation location. They are working on a redo.

Brandi wrote back. Key statement is: "I have gotten some information from our computer programmers and they have advised that the option for the computer database access is not available.  This is after checking with the Municipal Court prosecutor who advised that the confidentiality of juveniles and open cases could cause a problem.  The only way that they are telling me that, we can get you the information is by creating the computer program, which is the information that I have sent you before.  Please let me know as soon as possible as we would like to get this situation taken care of."

Received all data on CD.

Call from Dollie Shane, City Secretary. Said they are still working in getting the records; some complications because the court administrator is still getting experienced with their court system.

Assured Dollie that I am not concerned about statutory deadlines and that it will be a "few weeks" before I can process data anyway.

Suggested they investigate pulling data straight from the underlying database instead of working with the court system.

Asked Brandi to verify whether they can just dump the underlying SQL Server database.

Mailed Agreement for Access to Personal Information form to Irving.

Asked Jason if I could just get a straight dump of all data and do the filtering myself. (Presuming that the challenges around data filtering are why this is taking so long.)

Phone call (don't remember subject).

Mariví Gambini responded and said that the same personal info agreement that I did for TxDOT--with limited modifications they made--will satisfy their needs.

Phone call (don't remember subject).

Eva Morales, Court Supervisor said the judge has granted the request but that this will take some time because of the number of records in their system.

Mailed money order, notarized agreement, and copy of DL to Sheila Martin, City Secretary. Faculty research advisor will send a research verification letter separately.

Emailed Liz Spector asking for update on status.

Brandi Hodges called again:

• IT staff is still working on this.
• Are having to redact certain info.

She said it may be 1-2 more weeks; I assured her that before Thanksgiving is fine.

Susie Quinn responded with explanation of violation codes and explained that they are unable to provide non-truncated address information.

Jason replied with "It is very hectic around here. We have not forgotten about your request."

I wrote back with "Thank you. I am not on a tight schedule, but it would be great to get occasional (weekly?) progress updates."

From Kathy Hageman, Paralegal:

Your request was forwarded to our office. I wanted to let you know that we are working with the municipal court to try and get some type of report generated, but have encountered a few computer problems.

Hopefully we will have these worked in the next few days.

Picked up records on CD from Richardson.

All data promised by Friday, Sept. 27 for no more than $400.

Mark Bills, Technical Services Manager for the Grapevine Police Department, will investigate discrepancies with the 2007 and 2008 records.

Faculty research verification letter mailed to Irving.

Also emailed Marivi Gambini and clarified:

• Transportation Code §730 (Motor Vehicle Records Disclosure Act)
• Who will produce the data.

Phone call with Paula Dell, the city attorney, and a staff member familiar with the information system. They use CourtMaster 2000 with an Informix database. They claim:

• No ability to produce electronic reports.
• No ability to export data from the Informix database using in-house staff.

They rejected my request and will follow up with a letter.

Phone call with Marivi Gambini, paralegal to clarify request.

Phone call with Sheila Martin of Seagoville. The city attorney is really paranoid of sharing some of the data. I requested that the attorney reconsider, citing the Texas Transportation Code §730 exceptions for "research or statistical analysis." I also provided a copy of the notarized affidavit that Texas DPS required me to sign to ascertain compliance with §730.

Sandy will review again with the city attorney, but if he does not agree, this may trigger an appeal to the Texas Attorney General.

Sandy was receptive to exploring a direct export from their database system instead of using a software-generated report.

Confirmed $300 estimate to alter CourtMaster 2000 software to handle CSV exports. They can produce a lot of data from their police department's system, too, with a DB dump but that there may be additional costs.

Responded back that I can probably accept the $300 cost but need estimate on police DB costs before fully accepting all costs.

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.

Called Mark Mann and provided clarification. Asked that they investigate a direct data export from their underlying database, a less expensive method of providing data. Followed up with email to same effect.

Never heard back, sent another email and clarified why I asked the paper-based question. If they have electronic systems, they should be able to directly export the data for me.

Recevied CSV data electronically.

Asked for clarification on citation field, noted that vehicle information is inconsistent, and whether I can get a verison with address not truncated to 30 characters.

They are investigating.

Haven't heard back, emailed clarification request again.

Faculty advisor mailed research verification letter.

Cannot decipher data format of data provided for court records. Asked for clarification.

Phone call with Kimberly Kierce, Richardson Court Administrator, to clarify fields that they can and cannot provide. Final report might be available in a week or so.

Clarifcaiton on need for address information. Steve will check with their IT department.

Sample data provided.

Notified Rowlett City Secretary Susie Quinn over email that I either need assistance using their Customer Action Center or we need to use a different communications method.

Never got response to July email, so sending letter by mail instead to Michael W. Sellers, Interim City Administrator and Police Chief.

EDIT: Shalonda was originally mis-spelled as Cholanda.

Submitted new TPIA request:

Ms. Bradley,
On August 27, I spoke with Shalonda who helpfully explained limitations in your dataset that may prevent fulfillment of this request as written.
I am submitting a new open records request that will help determine research feasibility. I hereby request:

1. Copies of five representative samples of traffic citations written in July 2009 by Ferris police officers.
2. Copies of five representative samples of court case records that show details of and disposition of traffic citations from July 2009.
3. Description of computer system, description of software used, and summary of data retained in by Ferris to:
   1. Monitor traffic citation issuance.
   2. Track officer traffic citation performance.
   3. Report traffic ticket records, traffic stop records, and traffic citation case dispositions to the state or other jurisdictions.
   4. Manage court administration, especially with regards to court administration of traffic ticket records.
4. Description of how Ferris routes and manages traffic citation records, including but not limited to issuance to citizens, police department, court processing, and post-disposition recordskeeping.

   
It is fine to fulfill this TPIA request by email, including attaching scanned documents if relevant, by fax, or by mail. I placed all relevant contact information below my signature below.

Thank you for your assistance,

Aren Cambre, Doctoral Student

Southern Methodist University

Fax: 214-768----- (departmental fax; please call first so I can know to pick it up)
Phone: ------------
Email: acambre@smu.edu
Mailing address: Aren Cambre, Southern Methodist University, PO BOX 750262, Dallas, TX 75275-0262
 

Received attached letter in certified mail. I responded with this email:

I received your mailed response to my below TIPA request. Thank you for the detailed response.

I want to make sure I understand this correctly—does Seagoville not use any electronic system to manage police or court records related to traffic ticketing? Or if it does, is this system not able to produce electronic reports?

I look forward to the clarification.

Asked Jason for update on how request is progressing.

Sent scans of requested letters (personal and from faculty research advisor). Al Hamack responded shortly that they will produce estimate charges.

Request forwarded to Municipal Court.

Initial response from city attorney Al Hammack who wants to assure compliance with privacy standards of Federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. §2721 et seq.).

Extensive emailed back and forth between Terry Smith and me to ascertain research legitimacy and compliance with privacy laws.

Faxed TIPA request to Janis Daniels, City Secretary at 972-225-5559.

TIPA request emailed to Dolle Shane, City Secretary (dshane@lancaster-tx.com).
 

TIPA request emailed to Sonja Land , City Secretary (sland@ci.mesquite.tx.us).

TIPA request emailed to Pam Schmidt , City Secretary (pamela.schmidt@cor.gov).

TIPA request emailed to Terry Smith, City Secretary (tsmith@cityofsachse.com).

TIPA request emailed to Kathryn Dewey, Town Secretary (townsecretary@townofsunnyvale.org).

TIPA request faxed to Alice Holloway, City Secretary, at 972-441-3061. Number found on NCTCOG city directory.

Picked up data from Dallas County Administraton Building.

Received fax clarifying that cost is only $100.60 (slightly lower than prior estimate).

Received call from Shalonda Nelson from 972-842-5761. She says that they retain 5 years of records and have no electronic copies.

I said to cancel the TPIA request and that I will get back with them if I can figure out a viable way to deal with paper records.

Call from Desoto (972-230-1361) to acknowledge and clarify request.

Emailed request to Pat Bradley, City Secretary.

Emailed request to Othel Murphree, City Secretary.

Emailed request to Linda Huff, City Secretary.

Emailed Sgt. Babina a copy of notarized release form that TxDPS had me sign.

Joe Lockhart called to explain that they will hold my check until the estimate is solidified.

Mailed thank you letters.

Gary Greer, City Manager, said "Someone will be back to you with the cost to produce this  substantial amount of information."

Confirmed successful download of data.

Electronically provided all data available in court system.

Coppell City Secretary Libby Ball reports that its police department has none of the information I requested and that I should submit the request to the municipal court instead.

Call from Brandi Hodges to discuss how they can fulfill the request.

Conversation with Duncanville IT director. He will check with vendor of court administration management system for ways to extract data.

Thank you note sent to Deryl Corley.

Faculty advisor mailed research verification letter.

Mailed check to TxDPS.

All records recieved.

Phone call from Farmers Branch to confirm request.

Emailed Jason to make sure he got my response.

Sent open records request to city secretary at kcagle@ci.duncanville.tx.us.

Received estimate for $126.80 for ticketing servers and $2396 for JP traffic case/disposition data (from a mainframe).

Received copy of master data layout from Jason Straub to help determine which fields I am looking for.

I responded with fields that may be excluded.

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

Drove to Carrollton and picked up Excel version of TPIA request from Deryl Corley, Court Administrator.

Maria provided sample data electronically. Turns out the file was corrupted; asked for a redo.

Pamela confirmed receipt. Requested transferred to Maria Flores, who asked for delivery address. Asked her if I can receive electronically.

Asked Pamela if she had received my letters.

Provided with sample data.

Faxed request to interim city manager Ed Morris (per Contact Us page).

Email records request to Lyn Hill, City Secretary.

Standard request submitted through web form.

Faxed initial request to Darryl Martin, Commissioners Court Administrator.

Let Pamela know that everything is in the mail.

Notified Pamela that I am still working on making sure this data is for a viable research project.

[This is the result of some phone calls that I did not log.]

Pamela Smith emailed me a list of fields in their citation database.

Public Information Office acknowledged request and promised response within 10 business days.