Facts and Procedural History

For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access.

On June 8, 2001, IPA received a letter from David Waage. In this letter, Mr. Waage asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding his right to gain access to certain data maintained by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS.)

In response to Mr. Waage's request, IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Charles Weaver, Commissioner of DPS. The purposes of this letter, dated June 18, 2001, were to inform him of Mr. Waage's request and to ask him to provide information or support for DPS's position.

On June 28, 2001, IPA received a response from Lt. Colonel Steven J. Mengelkoch, Assistant Chief of the Minnesota State Patrol. A summary of the facts of this matter follows.

Mr. Waage's father died in 1997 as the result of an automobile accident. The following is a summary of Mr. Waage's communications with DPS regarding his data request.

• On April 10, 2001, Mr. Waage requested copies of two audio cassette tapes that contain interviews conducted by the State Patrol in connection with its investigation of the fatal accident.
• In a letter dated April 17, 2001, DPS told Mr. Waage that it would forward the tapes to him upon receipt of the copying fee. DPS mailed the copies to Mr. Waage on May 8, 2001.
• Mr. Waage returned the tapes, and in a letter dated May 15, 2001, stated they were of unacceptable sound quality, and asked for better quality copies. He also requested that the tapes be in standard size cassettes, rather than the micro size originally provided.
• Commissioner Weaver replied, in a letter dated May 21, 2001, that he had asked the State Patrol to make every effort to comply with your request.
• In a letter also dated May 21, 2001, Captain Al Kutz of the State Patrol wrote to Mr. Waage that he agreed that the sound quality was poor, and that he would retrieve the original tapes and make new copies.
• In a letter to Mr. Waage dated June 1, 2001, Lt. Colonel Mengelkoch wrote: Captain Kutz assures me that he is making every effort to provide you with the requested tape.

In a letter dated June 6, 2001, Captain Kutz wrote the following to Mr. Waage:

Enclosed is a tape containing both interviews obtained from Trooper John Hodnefield's original micro cassette tapes. We listened to the two original tapes, and both are of poor quality. You initially did not receive poor recordings of quality tapes; the original tapes themselves are the problem.

I listened to the tapes with Trp. Hodnefield. He did remember that when he listened to the tapes after taking the interviews, he found they had not recorded well. He learned that the equipment used while recording the tapes was not working properly at that time.

We do not have the equipment at our office to copy a micro cassette to a standard size cassette. One of our clerical staff was kind enough to make the recording at her home on her equipment. What you have received today is the best recording we can get given what we have to work with.

In his opinion request, Mr. Waage stated that DPS had not responded to his data request in a prompt manner, as mandated by Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13.

In his response to the Commissioner, Lt. Colonel Mengelkoch recounted DPS's responses to Mr. Waage, and stated [g]iven the totality of the circumstances, the Department of Public Safety, Division of State Patrol responded promptly and reasonably to Mr. Waage's request. Considering mailing time, the difficulty in making the reproductions, and the fact that Mr. Waage was kept apprised of the progress being made to create the best possible audio reproductions, the State Patrol acted appropriately in responding to Mr. Waage's data request.