August 9, 2006; City of Moorhead
8/9/2006 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:On May 24, 2006, IPAD received a letter dated May 17, 2006, from Robert Larson, Deputy Chief of the Moorhead Police Department. In his letter, Mr. Larson asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding the classification of certain data the City of Moorhead maintains. IPAD requested additional information and clarification, which IPAD received on June 19, 2006. A summary of the facts is as follows. In his opinion request, Mr. Larson wrote: The Moorhead Police Department has received a request to allow public access to a spreadsheet containing all active warrants in Clay County. The access could be allowed via our website and/or a crime update email newsletter with a link to the spreadsheet. The newsletter is sent to anyone who requests it. The belief is that by allowing the public access to the list of active warrants, a public purpose would be served by receiving information from the public to apprehend offenders. Currently, the spreadsheet contains the name, date of birth, last known address and the reason for the issued warrant. Any of the aforementioned items could be removed from the spreadsheet if necessary. The spreadsheet also includes all active warrants for the entire county. The warrant information we are looking to use on our website is gathered from a query taken from the information entered and maintained in our local records management system. At the present time through a joint powers agreement with the Clay County Sheriff's Department they enter all warrants on persons that have been arrested by our agencies or have been cited/summoned, and filed to appear in court. This information is derived from the county attorney's office. This information is also submitted to the BCA. Our query is formatted in an excel spreadsheet, and only utilized by officers at this time to locate persons with outstanding warrants against them. This spreadsheet contains the date of the warrant, description of the warrant, the name of the person, DOB, and last known address. This spreadsheet contains warrants issued on the behalf of both agencies. Issue:
Based on Mr. Larson's opinion request, the Commissioner agreed to address the following issue:
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Law enforcement data
Arrest warrant indices