Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The anatomy of a public records request regarding a public safety radio communications system

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 19:55:35 -0500

The anatomy of a public records request regarding a public safety radio
communications system

City of San Antonio / Bexar County Texas Public Safety System
by: Lindsay Blanton - www.radioreference.com

See http://www.trunkedradio.net/satx/  for attachments.

Last Updated: 03/03/2004

BACKGROUND

On September 23rd 1999, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County signed
a contract with Ericsson to provide a EDACS ProVoice digital system for
all public safety and city services communications.  The EDACS system
was selected by the city council to replace a 4 separate Motorola
Smartnet systems that currently provide communications to the City and
the County.  The original intention of the contract was to deliver the
system in 26 months, resulting in a production delivery date on or near
November of 2001.  As of January 2004, all intended users of the system
were still not online in production, and the first production switchover
of a city department occurred in November of 2003, nearly 2 years later
than the original implementation date.

One of the principal design features of the new EDACS system is the
implementation of MA/COM's ESK (EDACS System Key) feature, which changes
the original documented EDACS control channel structure and prevents
programming of unauthorized transceivers on the radio network.  Bexar
County and the City of San Antonio have had a serious problem of
bootlegged programmed radios on the Motorola system, which caused system
security and officer safety issues.  The new ESK feature prevents anyone
from programming an unauthorized transceiver on the network by requiring
a unique Smartcard installed with a private key to be used when with
reading or writing an EDACS radio for use on the network, which is a
sorely needed feature for public safety communications systems today.

An unfortunate side-effect of the ESK (EDACS System Key) feature of the
new system is that the system is totally unmonitorable by the citizens,
media, and outside public safety agencies in the City of San Antonio and
Bexar County because existing radio receivers cannot monitor the new
control channel format.  Furthermore, the City and County have made no
mention as to an official public or media access policy, leaving many to
wonder why thousands of citizens, public safety officials, and media
were left out of this very important public safety process.

As of January 2004, all of the intended users of the system were still
not totally online, and rumors of further implementation delays,
departmental pushback, and indecision on architectural direction were
still floating around the San Antonio / Bexar County public safety
community.

Thus, an open records request was filed with the City of San Antonio and
Bexar County to gather technical details, implementation timeframes, and
details regarding the RFP (Request for Proposal) and contract process
for the system.

THE OPEN RECORDS REQUEST

An open records request was filed with the City of San Antonio and Bexar
County on January 26th 2004 to gather further details on the system:

FOIA_Bexar_County.pdf

Open records request filed with Robert Aldeman, Bexar County Public
Safety Communications Manager, by Lindsay Blanton.

Note: An identical request with filed with Randall Tackett, the City of
San Antonio Public Safety communications manager.

The principal items that were requested in the initial FOIA request were
as follows:

1.A work breakdown structure for the deployment of the system, outlining
cut-over and implementation timeframes.

2.RFP and responses from MA/COM, Dailey Wells, and any other associated
vendors.

3.Official contract between MA/COM, Dailey Wells, and any other
associated vendors.

4.Documentation related to the decision only to utilize EDACS System Key
(ESK).

5.Frequency assignments for each site location, including EDACS Logical
Channel Order (LCN).

6.Documentation outlining talkgroup assignments for users of the system.

7.Training manuals and reference information provided to users of the
system.

8.Media access policy.

9.Citizen access policy.

10.Any and all documents related to the implementation of the system
that does not match the above criteria.
On February 9th, 2004, I received a phone call from Jonathan Kaplan,
Assistant City Attorney for the City of San Antonio, to clarify my open
records request, and agreed with him to delete Item No. 10 from my
request, "Any and all documents related to the implementation of the
system that does not match the above criteria."  I then received a
subsequent follow-up response from the Jonathan Kaplan outlining what
would be released, and what the City and County deemed exempted from
Open Records laws, and would not be released.

On February 11th, 2004, I received a phone call from Patricia Prouse,
Bexar County Criminal District Attorney, requesting that I agree to
allow the City and County to consolidate efforts to respond to the open
records request, and verifying that I agreed to delete Item No. 10 from
the initial request.

City_Response_to_ORR_02092004.pdf

Response to the open records request, received from Jonathan Kaplan,
Assistant City Attorney for the City of San Antonio, outlining what
would
be released, and what would not be released, and the associated costs
for
each document to be made available.

County_Agree_to_modify_02112004.pdf

Letter from Patricia Prouse, Bexar County Criminal District Attorney,
regarding the agreement to modify the open records request.

Interesting points to review in the City's Response to the Open Records
request:

The City and County agree to release Items 2, 3 and 7 of the Open
Records request.  This includes the RFP, official contracts, and
training manuals.

The City and County indicate that they have no information for item No.
4 (information related to the decision to utilize ESK) and that it was
part of the original contract.

The City and County indicate there is no media or public access policy
in place, therefore there is no information to release.
The City and County do not agree to release the work breakdown structure
(Item No. 1), Frequency Assignments for the sites (Item No. 5) and
talkgroup assignments for users of the system (Item No. 6).  Therefore,
the City and County would be submitting briefs to the State Attorney
General requesting this information be exempted from the Open Records
process, and not be released to me.

Editors Note:  It was expected that the City and County would not
release the Frequency and Talkgroup assignments for the system.
However, the request by the City and County to not release the system
implementation and work breakdown structure was surprising, and
alarming, especially since the release of the system is over 2 years
overdue.

After receiving the response from the City, I sent the following letter
on February 11th, 2004 to Jonathan Kaplan indicating which of the
documents I wished to have made available, as well as further
clarification on the information to be released:

Resp_to_Resp_02112004.pdf

My response to the Jonathan Kaplan indicating which document I wished to
be made available, and further clarifications.

Editors Note:  As of February 23rd, 2004, no response has been received
from the City in regards to the above letter, other than it was
received.

COORDINATION WITH THE TEXAS STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ON EXEMPTIONS
Texas State Law requires an agency to coordinate with the State Attorney
General when exempting the release of public records.

The following documents are the briefs filed by Bexar County, the City
of San Antonio.  Also listed below is the affidavit that Robert Alderman
submitted with the request to the State Attorney General regarding the
release of the requested information:

City_Initial_Exemption_to_AG.pdf

The City's initial request to the Attorney General asserting which items
are exempt from release under Texas State Law, and requesting an
Attorney General decision regarding the matter.

City_Brief_to_AG.pdf

The City's brief to the Attorney General with the arguments and law in
support of the City's request to exempt the data from release.

County_Brief_to_AG.pdf

The County's brief to the Attorney General with the arguments and law in
support of the City's request to exempt the data from release.

Adelman_Affidavit.pdf

The Affidavit filed by Robert Adelman, Bexar County Public Safety
Communications Manager.

INFORMATION RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST

Along with the copies of the City and County Briefs to the Attorney
General, and the Affidavit filed by Robert Alderman, the County released
the following documents to me as part of the Open Records Request:

release_02202004.pdf

Release of information by Bexar County in response to the Open Records
request (Contents Outlined Below)

The following information was initially released in the above document
to me:

1.25.12 Radio System and Group Structure
2.25.01 Radio Standards and Protocol 3.Bexar County Sheriff's Department
10-Codes 4.Call Signs
5.User Equipment Operator, Train-The-Trainer for Bexar County, Table of
Contents (1)
6.User Equipment Operator, Train-The-Trainer for Bexar County, Table of
Contents (2)

Further updates will be provided on this page as we receive additional
information from the City, County, and State Attorney General.

http://www.trunkedradio.net/satx/

--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

-- 
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEXTEL-1/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     [email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

---

From: Rick Parrish <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 00:37:24 -0600

Thanks Marcel ... the link I posted on the 25th is obsolete. The new URL 
is http://www.radioreference.com/satx/ but the old one should continue 
to work for a while.

Regards,
Rick

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

---

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 01:42:16 -0500

That is why I hate sending links alone they  expire!

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

 
Yahoo! Groups Links