Seattle Police Cameras – Upcoming Public Meeting and More Records Requests

Downtown Seattle SPD Mesh Network Map

The Seattle Police Department will be hosting a meeting at the Belltown Community Center, Tuesday, March 19th at 7 PM. I’ve prepared a flyer with material from the public records returned so far. I’ll be bringing a stack with me to distribute. This flyer presents all the relevant information in a concise form, and debunks many of the department talking points. It should result in a productive meeting with difficult questions being asked.

I was really hoping I would have a map of the network as it was installed, but those documents are still unavailable. After waiting over a month, all the documents that were returned in response to my public records request are contract documents that I believe should have been posted online by default. So far, I haven’t received any documents since May 2012. It seems unlikely that a 180 node network could be installed by Seattle Department of Transportation workers without any written instruction.

I’ve made followup requests with Seattle City Lights and the Seattle Department of Transportation for the installation instructions and maps. Unfortunately I haven’t heard back from either agency. I expect to receive two more delayed response notices on Friday.

I’ve also made a followup request with the Seattle Police Department. I received a response indicating followup would be done today, but I still haven’t received any records back. That email chain is posted below. I wouldn’t want to imagine how slow things might become if HB 1128, allowing local agencies to “Adopt a policy limiting the number of hours it devotes to responding to public records requests” had passed through the state legislature. As the law stands today, agencies must respond promptly to all requests. It’s clear that isn’t happening.

From: Andrew Pilloud
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2013 5:47 PM
To: Voegele, Bonnie
Subject: Re: Public Records Request: Wireless Mesh Network
Ms. Voegele,

I’ve reviewed the documents returned and have been unable to locate any as installed maps or device configurations.

I note the following in the Cascade Networks contact on pages 27-28:

6.2.12 Documentation

The Vendor shall provide with the proposal a list of documentation to be delivered to the City.

UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED AS LISTED BELOW:

1. Complete As-Built Drawings
2. Complete listing of equipment installed by location including:
a. Make, Model and Serial Number
b. IP Address
c. MAC Address
d. All other configuration settings

Per the contact these documents should be in the possession of the city. Were they omitted from the records returned on accident, or did you not find them while processing the request?

Thank You,

Andrew Pilloud

Subject: RE: Public Records Request: Wireless Mesh Network
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:14:23 -0700
From: Voegele, Bonnie
To: Andrew Pilloud

I will contact Purchasing on Monday March 18 and have them send me the information.

Bonnie