Source: http://www.vcp.state.va.us/foia.htm
Timestamp: 2017-07-21 08:43:05
Document Index: 486139916

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2']

The Division of Capitol Police Commonwealth of Virginia - Freedom of Informtion Act
Home > Web Policy > FOIA
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), located Section 2.2-3700 et. seq. of the Code of Virginia, guarantees citizens of the Commonwealth and representatives of the media access to public records held by public bodies, public officials and public employees.
The policy of FOIA states that the purpose of FOIA is to promote an increased awareness by all persons of governmental activities. In furthering this policy, FOIA requires that the law be interpreted liberally, in favor of access and that any exemption allowing public records to be withheld must be interpreted narrowly. Your FOIA Rights
Requesting Division of Capitol Police Records
Your request must ask for existing records or documents. FOIA gives you a right to inspect or copy records; it does not apply to a situation where you are asking general questions about the work of the Division, nor does it require the Division to create a record that does not exist.
You may choose to receive electronic records in any format used by the Division in the regular course of business. For example, if you are requesting records maintained in a database or spreadsheet, you may elect to receive those records electronically, via e-mail or on a computer disk, or to receive a printed copy of those records.
To request records from the Division of Capitol Police, you may direct your request to Major Mark Sykes. He can be reached at Commonwealth of Virginia Division of Capitol Police, P.O. Box 1138, Richmond, Virginia 23218, telephone (804)786-2120, fax (804) 371-8698, e-mail msykes@dcp.virginia.gov. In addition, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council is available to answer any questions you may have about FOIA. The Council may be contacted by e-mail at foiacouncil@dls.virginia.gov, or by telephone at (804) 225-3056 or (toll free) 1-866-448-4100. DCP Responsibilities
The Division must respond to your request within five working days of receiving it. "Day One" is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.
The reason behind your request for public records from the Division is irrelevant, and we cannot ask you why you want the records before we respond to your request. FOIA does, however, allow the Division to ask you to provide your name and legal address.
FOIA requires that the Division make one of the following responses to your request within the five-day time period:
If it is practically impossible for the Division to respond to your request within the five-day period, we must state this in writing, explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us seven additional working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 12 working days to respond to your request.
A public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in acccessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records. No public body shall impose any extraneous, intermediary, or surplus fees or expenses to recoup the general costs associated with creating or maintaining records or transacting the general business of the public body. Any duplicating fee charged by a public body shall be estimated in advance at the request of the citizen as set forth in subsection F of § 2.2-3704 of the Code of Virginia.
You may have to pay for the records that you request from the Division. FOIA allows us to charge for the actual costs of responding to FOIA requests. This would include items like staff time spent searching for the requested records, copying costs or any other costs directly related to supplying the requested records. It cannot include general overhead costs.
If you owe us money from a previous FOIA request that has remained unpaid for more than 30 days, the Division may require payment of the past-due bill before it will respond to your new FOIA request.
The following is a general description of the types of records held by the Division of Capitol Police:
Personnel records concerning employees and officials of the Division of Capitol Police.
Records of contracts which Division of Capitol Police has entered into. Records of accidents reported, visitor logs maintained by the Division, calls for service, and communications records.
If you are unsure whether the Division of Capitol Police has the record(s) you seek, please contact Major Mark Sykes directly at Commonwealth of Virginia Division of Capitol Police, P.O. Box 1138 Richmond, Virginia 23218, telephone (804) 786-2120, fax (804) 371-8698, e-mail msykes@dcp.virginia.gov.
The Code of Virginia allows any public body to withhold certain records from public disclosure. The Division of Capitol Police commonly withholds records subject to the following exemptions:
Information concerning the prevention or response to terrorist activity or cyber attacks (§ 2.2-3705.2 (4))
Information contained in engineering and architectural drawings, operational, procedural, tactical planning or training manuals, staff meeting minutes if disclosure would jeopardize the security or any governmental facility, building, or structure or the safety of persons using such facility, building, or structure (§ 2.2-3705.2 (6))
Information concerning security plans and specific assessment components (§ 2.2-3705.2 (7))
Criminal investigative records shall be withheld in compliance with (§ 2.2-3706)
The general policy of the Division of Capitol Police is to invoke the personnel records exemption in those instances where it applies in order to protect the privacy of employees and officials of the Division.
The general policy of the Division of Capitol Police is to invoke the contract negotiations exemption whenever it applies in order to protect the Division’s bargaining position and negotiating strategy.
The general policy of the Division of Capitol Police is to invoke the appropriate law enforcement exemptions as appropriate for any records involving criminal investigative materials and to redact personally identifying information from records that are released.
The Division of Capitol Police will withhold criminal investigative materials in compliance with (§ 2.2-3706) of the Code of Virginia.