FOR THE RECORD: Facts on Alderman’s Request, Monitoring OpenSky
Milwaukee Police Department
Office of Media and Communications
December 9, 2010 – The following is an e-mail sent to the media:
Attached to this e-mail you will find the documents that lay out the facts involving Alderman Robert Donovan's Open Records request and his statements regarding the public monitoring of the OpenSky radio system.
We have attached copies of the correspondence between the Milwaukee Police Department Open Records Section and Ald. Robert Donovan regarding his recent Open Records request. Receipt letter-October 15, 2010. Final response letter-November 29, 2010.
The request, as written was determined to be overly broad and would require at least 1,000 to 1,500 staff hours to process. It would require stopping all other functions in the office for an extended period of time. The attached letters clearly demonstrate that the Alderman received a lawful response that included alternative measures for him to receive information relative to the request, including an offer from the Open Records Captain to meet with him to discuss his request.
Ald. Donovan did not respond to the options presented, including the opportunity to discuss the request.
As you can see in the attached documents, Chief Flynn provided a lawful, thoughtful and respectful response to the Alderman's request.
Regarding the issue of allowing public monitoring of the Milwaukee Police Department's encrypted radio system, attached you will find the Milwaukee City Attorney's opinion from 2008 regarding the concerns of opening up this system to the media/public.
As the opinion clearly states, the OpenSky radio system provides high security, encrypted, digital radio capabilities that allows the Milwaukee Police Department to communicate safety- and security-sensitive information with outside entities including the FBI, Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies. According to the City Attorney's opinion, by opening up the system, we put at risk our ability to prosecute anyone who might hack into OpenSky.
Making encrypted radio communications available to the public would jeopardize officer safety. Over the years, during various types of search warrants, officers have recovered police scanners from drug houses, gang houses and from others who seek to learn officer locations and activity in order to evade police and to continue to commit their crimes. Opening up the system to monitoring by the public does not serve public safety nor officer safety.
At the same time, we have made dispatched calls for police service available on our Website at www.milwaukee.gov/police that shows call number, date and time of call, address, district, nature of the call and the call’s status. This display ensures transparency of MPD activities while keeping police operations secure in the field.