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May 21, 1997; City of Winona
5/21/1997 10:15:43 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: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 PIPA and, with the exception of any data classified as not public, are available for public access.On April 7, 1997, PIPA received a letter dated April 3, 1997, from Richard Blahnik, attorney for the City of Winona. In his letter, he requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding the classification of certain data maintained by the City of Winona Police Department. A summary of the facts surrounding this matter is as follows. On March 1, 1997, an automobile accident occurred in Winona in which the five occupants of the automobile were killed. As a result of the accident, the Winona Police Department collected, created, and is maintaining certain information. Although the Department has released some of the data relating to the incident, Mr. Blahnik has requested an opinion regarding the classification of the remaining data. Mr. Blahnik wrote, It is the City's position that a portion of the Winona Police Department response or incident data is private or nonpublic data pursuant to M.S. Section 13.82, subd. 4 and M.S. Section 13.83. (The Commissioner has issued an opinion regarding the classification of the blood alcohol content data collected in relation to the same incident. See Advisory Opinion 97-023.)
Issue:
In his request for an opinion, Mr. Blahnik asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:
As part of his opinion request, Mr. Blahnik submitted copies of all the data that are in dispute. Those data include the following: clothing found on the individuals, personal property found on the individuals and in the automobile, Winona Police supplemental reports, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Fatality Report, debriefing notes, information on who identified the bodies of the victims, and the results of additional blood toxicological analyses conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.02, subdivision 11, data collected, created, and maintained by the City of Winona are subject to the requirements of Chapter 13. Data collected, created, and maintained by the City's Police Department are classified specifically in Section 13.82. On behalf of the City, Mr. Blahnik asserted that the data at issue in this opinion are private pursuant to Sections 13.82, subdivision 4, and 13.83. Subdivision 4 of Section 13.82, classifies as public certain data collected or created per a law enforcement agency's response to an incident or per actions taken by an agency on its own initiative. Mr. Blahnik has apparently concluded that because the data in question are not specifically listed in subdivision 4, those data must be not public. In addition, as Mr. Blahnik points out, Section 13.83 does classify some types of data collected by medical examiners as not public. As the Commissioner discussed in Advisory Opinion 97-023, both of Mr. Blahnik's arguments are problematic. First, Section 13.82, subdivision 4, states that certain data regarding an agency's response to an incident are to be always public. It does not state that other response or incident data are private or confidential. Therefore, none of the data in question can be classified as private pursuant to Section 13.82, subdivision 4. Furthermore, as the Commissioner discussed in Advisory Opinion 97-023, the data in question appear to have been collected by the Winona Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies, as part of an investigation. into the March 1, 1997, accident. Therefore, these data appear to be more appropriately classified pursuant to subdivision 5 of Section 13.82. Subdivision 5 of Section 13.82, classifies investigative data collected and/or created by a law enforcement agency in order to prepare a case against a person, whether known or unknown, for the commission of a crime or other offense for which the agency has primary investigative responsibility. Investigative data are not public while the investigation is active and, except in certain situations not applicable in this case, become public when the case becomes inactive. In the situation at hand, although no one was ultimately charged with a crime, the police investigators initially gathered information and evidence as if they were proceeding with an investigation. The Commissioner concludes that these data are classified pursuant to subdivision 5 of Section 13.82, and are now public because no charges will be pursued and the investigation has become inactive. In his comments, Mr. Blahnik also made reference to Section 13.83, medical examiner data, as an argument for treating the data as not public. Section 13.83 classifies data created, collected, used, or maintained by a medical examiner in the fulfillment of his/her official duties. As the Commissioner discussed in Advisory Opinion 97-023, pursuant to Section 13.03, subdivision 4 (a), any data disseminated to the Police Department by the medical examiner's office are also subject to the operation of Section 13.82, subdivision 5, and are classified as public. An additional note is necessary. With one exception, the data described above are public because they are inactive investigative data. The exception is the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Fatality Report. Minnesota Statutes Section 169.09 requires that motor vehicle accident reports be submitted to the Commissioner of Public Safety. All such reports are confidential pursuant to Section 169.09, subdivision 13, except for any data contained in the report that are classified as public as per Section 13.82, subdivisions 3 (request for service data) and 4 (response or incident data). Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Blahnik is as follows:
Signed:
Elaine S. Hansen
Dated: May 21, 1997 |
Law enforcement data
Response or incident data (13.82, subd. 6 / subd. 4)
Traffic accidents (169.09)
