Peggy Scott

State Representative District 49A Anoka County

Minnesota House of

COMMITTEES: CAPITAL INVESTMENT CIVIL LAW ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES POLICY AND FINANCE REDISTRICTING RULES AND LEGISLATIVE ADMINISTRATION

Representatives

Chief Gordon Ramsay Duluth Police Department 2030 N Arlington Ave Duluth, MN 55811 Chief Ramsay, As Chair of the Minnesota House Data Practices Subcommittee, I am deeply disturbed at remarks made by the Duluth Police Department concerning access to data related to the investigation of Rep. Kerry Gauthier. Despite the obvious requirements set forth in Chapter 13, your department appears to have violated the law in order to avoid disclosing public data related to this investigation. News reports indicate that your department twice failed to comply with requests for public data related to the Gauthier investigation. The Deputy Chief, Robin Roesser, explained that this is because it maintains public data on high profile individuals, including incident and arrest reports, separate and apart from other data. Deputy Roesser is quoted as saying, Its a database shared by several law enforcement agencies. It was a high-profile case, shielded so only a few users could see it. This is highly inappropriate, and a clear violation of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. By restricting access to public data related the incidents involving high profile individuals, the Duluth Police Department has created two sets of rules for handling public data. For regular people, requests for data will be processed according to the rules of Chapter 13. For high-profile people, the police will decide which data to release and when to release it. The actions and statements of your department beg for clarification of which statutes, rules or ordinances allow a policy of "special treatment" of privileged individuals. Under Chapter 13, I am hereby requesting the following information and data: 1. The department's definition of "high profile" and its procedure in determining whether certain incidents or investigations are "high profile."

2. The records retention schedule for government data required under Sec. 138.17. Indicate where in the records retention schedule, or in another authority, a government entity is authorized to deem an individual "high profile" and provide disparate treatment for data related to that person. 3. Clarification of Deputy Roesser's comments describing data on "high profile" individuals being held separate from all other data. Does the Duluth Police Department segregate and/or restrict access to physical or electronic data on what it deems "high profile" individuals that, in whole or part, is public? a. What led the Duluth Police Department to determine that this practice is necessary, and for how long has this been a common practice? b. How long after the Duluth Police Department comes into possession of data on "high profile" individuals does the department restrict access to that data? c. Identify any individuals involved in developing and maintaining the practice of restricting access to public high profile individuals. 4. If so, which officers or employees of the Duluth Police Department have access to high profile data? Which other law enforcement agencies have access to this data?

5. All data related to any individual reported to, arrested by, or investigated by the Duluth Police Department, who was deemed to be "high profile" by the department or another law enforcement agency at any time from 2006 to present. 6. The number of reports of indecent exposure or activities similar to Rep. Gauthier's alleged behavior from 2006 to present. 7. The number of citations issued to and/or arrests made of individuals accused of the behavior identified in (6) from 2006 to present. According to Sec. 13.03, you have a reasonable amount of time to respond to this request. Should you find it easier to respond to the information sought in requests (1) (4), feel free to provide that information in advance of responses to the remaining requests. Please contact my office as soon as possible with a cost estimate for reproducing the data. Depending on the estimate, I may wish to inspect the data at your department. Also, please let me know if you would like clarification on the information being sought, or if we can be of assistance in facilitating the fulfillment of this request. Sincerely, Rep. Peggy Scott District 49A