Anonymous records request seeks data from 1,000 county phones

EVERETT — A new anonymous records request has left Snohomish County grappling yet again with technological challenges and huge demands on staff time.

A person using the name Mr. Public Requestor emailed in June to demand all data from all active government cellphones being used by county employees. Audio, video and pictures were sought, along with applications, operating system data and everything else that makes a smart phone work.

Extracting all of that information could take up to four hours for each of the county’s 1,000 cell phones, tech employees estimate. That’s not counting time to redact personal information, computer passwords and other details exempt from public disclosure.

In the meantime, county workers have been told not to delete anything from their work phones.

“You have to look at every picture, you have to look at every text,” said Teri Lawrie, a public records assistant in the county’s tech department. “I wouldn’t be comfortable with saying how many hours of work.”

Mr. Public Requestor’s demand is the largest active request for government records at the county. But it’s only the latest in a series of increasingly numerous and complex requests for public records that have left state agencies and local governments throughout Washington playing catch-up.

Auditor studying Public Records Act

The state auditor is studying the demands the 1972-vintage Public Records Act is putting on more than 2,500 state and local agencies. Findings could help lawmakers explore ways for local and state agencies to recoup costs.

Snohomish County already has substantial information about the records requests it receives. For years it has kept track using a database.

Among other things, the county has compiled details about the information being sought and the name, email address or pseudonym used by the requester. In most but not all instances, county employees also have kept a running log of the time they’ve spent responding.

The Daily Herald analyzed information from more than 30,000 public records requests made between January 2011 and fall 2014.

Snohomish County’s most-prolific requester? The information company LexisNexis claimed that spot with more than 6,700 records requests made during the period studied. Most focused on police reports about run-of-the-mill car accidents, home break-ins and other property damage. The information was retrieved to assist in processing insurance claims.

The county received thousands of similar requests directly from insurance providers, communications companies and utilities. The Snohomish County PUD, for example, made nearly 500 records requests, mostly to document car crashes into power poles, spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.

While accident reports may be the most common type of request, they’re “actually the simplest requests to process because they don’t require redactions,” said Sara Di Vittorio, the deputy prosecutor who advises county employees how to respond to public records requests.

The county has entered into a contract with LexisNexis that should largely automate requests for accident reports.

Other frequent users include local public defenders and other attorneys. On hundreds of occasions in recent years, they have turned to the records laws to insure they’ve received all the police reports about their clients’ cases. Journalists and environmental activists also number among those most frequently filing requests.

‘Weapon of retaliation’?

The data also document demands from people the county claims use the state’s records law as a “weapon of retaliation and a weapon of harassment.” In state legislative hearings, the county usually cites the workload created by Anne Block, a blogger from Gold Bar who has entangled local officials in multiple lawsuits and has made scores of records requests.

But some of the most challenging requests have come from people on the county payroll, the data show.

Take the demands made by Kevin Hulten, the former aide to Aaron Reardon. In 2012 he adopted the pseudonym “Edmond Thomas” to covertly seek information about his boss’ political rivals. Meeting Hulten’s demands was such a chore that it used the equivalent labor of a county staffer working full time for nearly six weeks.

Meanwhile, a single request in 2012 from an information systems employee who wanted records about coworkers ate up nearly 150 hours of staff time.

Those demands are miniscule compared to the task Mr. Public Requestor has brought to the county. In the worst case, county staff calculate it could take nearly two years just to download the data from the phones. That doesn’t include time for redaction.

It’s unclear who is behind the demands. Mr. Public Requestor did not answer emails sent by The Daily Herald last week.

Anonymous requests also honored

The county must treat all records requests the same, whether the person making them is anonymous or uses a real name, Di Vittorio said.

While Mr. Public Requestor’s identity remains a mystery, the person has been in contact with the county and shown a willingness to help narrow the request.

“It appears that they’re somebody familiar with the inner-workings of the county,” Di Vittorio said.

The requester, for example, opted not to seek records for phones used by human services employees. Data on those are likely to require heavy redaction because they often involve working with people in vulnerable circumstances, including cases requiring medical privacy.

So far, the request has cost the county thousands of dollars, said Lawrie, the public disclosure assistant from the tech department.

Deputies have had to leave patrol to submit phones for data extraction.

The county bought $1,900 worth of software to speed up the extraction process, Lawrie said.

Under current law, the county has no mechanism for recouping costs for time spent gathering those electronic records.

The county is allowed to charge for the cost of a compact disc or other storage device used to provide the records.

That apparently stymied a massive request last year, made by a man who anonymously asked for every record created by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office back to 1776 — 85 years before the county incorporated. That forced the county to retain data that it normally routinely discards. The county closed the request after the man refused to pay $1.50 for a compact disc with the first installment of his records.

Snohomish County is hardly alone in being forced to devote more staff and taxpayer money to fulfill public records requests.

In recent years, an alliance of leaders of cities, counties and special districts have pressed state lawmakers for help dealing with requesters whose intentions they question. And they’ve asked for the ability to charge a higher price for those records produced and provided electronically.

But lawmakers have been reticent to act in part because they really don’t know the scope of the problem. They hear stories of escalating costs and how the sheer number of requests can swamp small towns.

Study results in spring

They are turning to the state auditor for answers.

This year, in the state budget, lawmakers directed the auditor to find out what the 2,529 state and local agencies subject to the Public Records Act expend in time and money to uphold the law. The study results are due in March.

“We were really interested in pursuing this because we hear so much about this issue from the entities we audit,” said Susan Hoffman, principal of the Performance Audit Team that will conduct the study. “We think it’s important to have this kind of information.”

The state hopes to complete the work by late November.

Hoffman said the study also will include information on how other states wrestle with records challenges and some best practices in use around Washington and elsewhere.

Auditors may decide to delve deeper into specific circumstances in a community. A case study could help illuminate specific challenges faced by local governments, she said.

Auditors don’t plan on making specific recommendations for how agencies should handle requests or what price they could charge for records, she said.

“We’re really focused on providing information,” she said.

That means that for now, Snohomish County and other local governments must chart their own path. The stakes are high, with potential penalties of $100 per day when records aren’t supplied. Settling public records lawsuits has cost the county more than $1 million during the past year.

Jerry Cornfield contributed to this report. Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.