City of Asheville Submitted: March 1, 2018 | Updated: May 18, 2018

Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents

I would like to request all public records related to individual 2017 Use of Force Incidents within the Asheville Police Department.

In the report, under "Use of Force Analysis", there is a section titled "Methodology & Procedure", which describes how reports are created after a use of force incident, and then augmented by documentation related to the review by the chain of command in the Professional Standards section of APD's system.

I would specifically like to request any public records within this system in a machine readable format, pertaining to Use of Force Incidents in 2017.

I would like to request a description of what information exists related to individual use of force incidents and the subsequent review process. If records do exist but are not public record, that would be helpful information as well.

**Editor’s Note:  Due to Code For Asheville’s Petition for Police Accountability Through Data Transparency there is collaborative work happening between the community, APD, and City IT. Due to that, this request is on hold until that work is complete.

Update 10/23/18: The work is still ongoing. We’re hoping to see this information released as open data by the end of the year.

Status: Completed

Documents:

Activity:

  • May 18, 2018 2:30 pm

    5 years ago

    from: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    date: Fri, May 18, 2018 at 2:30 PM
    subject: Re: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Good afternoon Sunshine Request,

     

    Attached please find the blank use of force report used by the Police Department. This is the only public record available related to this request at this time.

     

    Please note that Use of Force reports for incidents are not public records pursuant to G.S. 160A-168; however, the Police Department is currently in the process of creating public data sets that will be posted in the City Open Data portal when available. There is not a timeline as to when they will be complete at this time.

     

    Thank you,
    Sarah

     

    **Editor’s Note: Please see referenced file at top left in “documents”.

    Status: Response Received from Government
  • May 10, 2018 2:06 pm

    5 years ago

    from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    to: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    date: Thu, May 10, 2018 at 2:06 PM
    subject: Re: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Sarah,

     

    We appreciate the update! Out of interest for the sender, it’d be awesome if you could please give any info you may have on when you think that they’ll be completed.

     

    Thank you so much!
    Have a great afternoon.

     

    Sunshine Request

    Status: Follow up
  • May 8, 2018 8:21 am

    5 years ago

    from: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    date: Tue, May 8, 2018 at 8:21 AM
    subject: Re: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Good morning,

     

    This report is still being compiled and is not ready for release.

     

    Thank you!

     

    Sarah Terwilliger
    Deputy City Clerk
    City of Asheville
    (828) 259-5839

    Status: Government Processing Request
  • May 4, 2018 1:46 pm

    5 years ago

    from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    to: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    date: Fri, May 4, 2018 at 1:46 PM
    subject: Re: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Sarah,

     

    Just wanted to follow up on this request!

     

    Thank you!

     

    Sunshine Request

    Status: Follow up
  • April 26, 2018 11:21 am

    5 years ago

    from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    to: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    date: Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 11:21 AM
    subject: Re: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Sarah,

     

    Thank you so much!

     

    Sunshine Request

    Status: Follow up
  • April 24, 2018 10:13 am

    6 years ago

    from: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    cc: Public Records Request Inbox <[email protected]>
    date: Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 10:13 AM
    subject: Re: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Good morning,

     

    The applicable departments are still in the process of compiling this information. There is not a report at this time.

     

    Thanks!

     

    Sarah

    Status: Government Processing Request
  • April 19, 2018 11:37 am

    6 years ago

    Hi Sarah,

     

    Thanks again for your help!

     

    We understand it might take some time to process the request – Just want to check in and ask whether there’s any update to report on the status of the request?

     

    Have a great afternoon!

     

    Sunshine Request

    Status: Follow up
  • March 15, 2018 2:09 pm

    6 years ago

    3:06pm

    from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    to: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    cc: Public Records Request Inbox <[email protected]>
    date: Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 3:06 PM
    subject: Re: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Thank you Sarah,

     

    We look forward to your follow-up.

     

    Have a great afternoon!

     

    Sunshine Request

    from: Sarah Terwilliger <[email protected]>
    to: [email protected]
    cc: Public Records Request Inbox <[email protected]>
    date: Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 2:09 PM
    subject: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents– Follow-up response

     

    Hello Sunshine Request,

     

    I was hoping to follow-up and clarify the March 14 City of Asheville Response to the Public Records request related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents (original request made March 1).

     

    This request was initially interpreted to be for the Use of Force reports which may be used in disciplinary action and in the officer’s personnel file. Reports that are used by the department to evaluate the employee are confidential pursuant to G.S. 160A-168. However, report data that is used to track trends are public record(s).

     

    I have been informed that the Information Technology Services (ITS) department is currently working with the Police Department to compile Use of Force Incident data for release in the open data catalog. This dataset is not yet available, and we will follow-up upon completion.

     

    We apologize for any confusion.

     

    Thank you,
    Sarah

     

    Sarah Terwilliger
    Deputy City Clerk
    City of Asheville
    (828) 259-5839

    Status: Response Received from Government
  • March 14, 2018 12:37 pm

    6 years ago

    Hello Sunshine,

     

    I have an update for this request. Use of Force incidents are not considered public record under NCGS 160A-168. As such we will not be able to provide what has been requested. Additionally we are not required to perform analysis or provide anything that is not strictly a document.

     

    Thanks,
    —
    Ben Fulmer

    Status: Response Received from Government
  • March 5, 2018 12:08 pm

    6 years ago

    ** Editor’s Note: Mentioned in a reply to another request (WLOS ABC 13 – Stony Gonce Article), we also received confirmation that this request has been received by AVL gov, and is being processed.

    Status: Government Processing Request
  • March 1, 2018 5:20 pm

    6 years ago

    from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
    to: City of Asheville Public Records Request <[email protected]>
    date: Thu, Mar 1, 2018 at 5:20 PM
    subject: Records Request: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents

     

    Good Evening City of Asheville,

     

    We’ve just received another request via www.sunshinerequest.com for information that may be available in your office.

     

    **Please note that the sender has filled out a form on our site indicating that the request should also include the time period of Jan. 01, 2017 – Dec. 31, 2017.

     

    Here are the details of the request:

     

    Subject: Public Records related to 2017 Use of Force Incidents

     

    Message: “I would like to request all public records related to individual 2017 Use of Force Incidents within the Asheville Police Department.

     

    In the report, under “Use of Force Analysis”, there is a section titled “Methodology & Procedure”, which describes how reports are created after a use of force incident, and then augmented by documentation related to the review by the chain of command in the Professional Standards section of APD’s system.

     

    I would specifically like to request any public records within this system in a machine readable format, pertaining to Use of Force Incidents in 2017.

     

    I would like to request a description of what information exists related to individual use of force incidents and the subsequent review process. If records do exist but are not public record, that would be helpful information as well.”

     

    Thank you for your assistance.
    Have a good evening!

     

    Sunshine Request

    Status: Sent to Government
  • March 1, 2018 10:14 pm

    6 years ago

    Submitted to Sunshine Request
    Status: Pending