Results!

I received two different responses with results concerning my request and I was not charged any money for either one! One is an excel sheet that is a list of the class C citation warrant arrests from the man who called me to tell me there is not a way to separate the speeding violations from other warrants unless I wanted to pay a lot of money. It has names, dates, cars, and addresses on it. It is way too long to include in this post and you probably don't care to look at a list of names. This excel sheet has class C warrants on it, but I am unable to distinguish what they warrant was for. So, this was not very helpful since I cannot see which arrests were for speeding violations....

The other response I received was from a woman at the Public Records office. The email is below:

"Dear Hannah Kirkpatrick,

This letter responds to your request for information to the City of Fort Worth, dated and received in our office on 11/1/2016 8:00:00 AM.

Information Requested: Police Records - *see original request attached* For the period of November 1, 2015 to October 31, 2016 Under the Texas Public Information Act, §6252-17a et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of public records that deal with the amount of arrests that are carried out due to warrants only for speeding tickets in the city of Fort Worth. I am only searching for records pertaining of arrests made due to outstanding speeding tickets

The City of Fort Worth Municipal Court has reviewed its files and is providing the information responsive to your request per clarification received 11/02/2016.

Report results are that there were 6,229 persons arrested on 8,145 cases;  in which a defendant was arrested on a Class C Misdemeanor warrant for a related Speeding violation during the requested time period."

As you can see from this email, I was just given the numbers and not any actual record documents. Also, it is interesting that I got the numbers I was looking for pertaining to speeding violations from her and not from the other man I spoke with. He said my request would require hours of work and she did not even bat an eyelash. I am confused as to why she was able to give me the information and he was not. So, looking at the numbers I highlighted it appears that there are a lot of arrests due to speeding violations! 6,229 of the 8,145 cases were arrested. Makes me very glad I took care of my ticket because it seems they are very strict about making those arrests for those of us who like to drive fast. 

The Phone Call

I am just now getting around to posting about a phone call I received from the Public Records office. The man called to tell me that the specific information that I am requesting is not available on its own. They do not separate Class C warrants into smaller groups, such as warrants for speeding violations. And the work that would be required for me to get that specific information would cost thousands of dollars apparently. I definitely shut down that request! So I had to modify my request slightly to a shorter time period and to request the Class C warrants that are carried out. I was also informed that the birth dates of the people would be blacked out, but that was of no concern to me. And minors' records would not be given either, which again was not something I needed.

Here is the email I received to finalize the changes to my request:

Dear Ms. Kirkpatrick,

Per our phone conversation, you have agreed to change to time frame of your request from 11/1/2015- 10/31/2016 to 1/1/2016 – 10/31/2016. Also just to advise you in writing we do not have the ability to pull out just speeding ticket warrant arrest. We log our citation arrest by the title “Local- local class C Warrant.” This will include all citation warrant arrest.

So far, it has been an interesting experience. Something that I know will be helpful in the future. Now just waiting to receive the records!

*Update*

I submitted my request earlier this week at Fort Worth City Hall and the woman kindly looked over the request to see if I needed to add anything else. She pointed out that I did not have a time period that I was interested in looking at, so I decided to do just over the span of a year. I requested records from Nov. 1 2015 to Oct. 31 2016. She told me I would get a confirmation email that my request had been received. I got that email later that same day, which surprised me. Then the next day I got an email asking for a little more clarification on what I was requesting. The language for these requests is foreign to me, so I am glad that I was contacted. I hope my second clarification helps. I have not received another email since then, so I am going to assume my request is being process now!

FOIA Request

Before calling the Fort Worth PD, I figured it would be a good idea to take care of my outstanding speeding ticket and arrest warrant. I didn't want to be on the phone with them and then all of a sudden cop cars pull up outside my house to arrest me...that would have been awkward. SO, now I can get around to submitting my request pertaining to how many arrest are actually made due to outstanding speeding tickets in the city of Fort Worth. I know it happens because a friend of mine was sitting on his front porch when a cop car was patrolling the neighborhood and randomly decided to run his license plate. The police officer stopped and had to take him downtown because my friend had a warrant out for a speeding ticket. I definitely did not want to go through that trouble, or embarrassment! 

My request is down below. I called the Fort Worth Police Department to see if I could find a specific person to address my request to, but the woman just told me I had to submit it through the city. She also was not able to tell me if there was an efficient way to word my request in order to make it easier on them. I was disappointed how little she seemed to know. 

Hannah Kirkpatrick

10612 Highland Ridge Road Fort Worth, TX 76108

11/1/16

Records & Information Management

City Hall, Suite L31

1000 Throckmorton St.

Fort Worth, TX 76102

Dear Records & Information Management Agent:

Under the Texas Public Information Act, §6252-17a et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of public records that deal with the amount of arrests that are carried out due to warrants for speeding tickets only in the city of Fort Worth. I am only searching for records pertaining to arrests made due to outstanding speeding tickets.

If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $10.  However, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of speeding ticket warrants. This information is not being sought for commercial purposes.

The Texas Public Information Act requires that you "promptly produce" the requested records unless, within 10 days, you have sought an Attorney General's Opinion.  If you expect a significant delay in responding to this request, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Thank you for considering my request.

Sincerely,

Hannah Kirkpatrick

817-480-4675

h.l.kirkpatrick@tcu.edu

The Mission

I am going to use this project as a chance to try to find out how many arrests are made due to outstanding speeding tickets. My idea came from the fact that I just found out that apparently I have not dealt with my one and only speeding ticket from 2013. I am pretty sure I paid the ticket back then, so I am confused! I will focus on the city of Fort Worth and try to obtain the warrants that were carried out only for speeding tickets. Maybe this will also help me get my ticket all figured out too, because I would rather not get arrested!

Wish me luck.