1) If I were assigned to come up with an in-depth report on Al Zimmerman after being arrested on child pornography charges and booked by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, I would look at multiple public records to begin my report.
The first place I would go to look for public records would be on the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office web page, http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/ , to obtain Zimmerman’s arrest records. I would then go to the H.C. Sheriff’s Office and obtain the full arrest report known as a Criminal Report Affidavit. This report will have a statement showing the officer had probable cause to arrest Zimmerman, which the arrest records would not have shown. I would also speak with the Sheriff’s Office to gather any further information they have on the case. I would get any warrant inquiries they had on Zimmerman as well. I would like to interview the Sheriff, or his spokesman, and also the officer who arrested Zimmerman. I would speak with the arrest officer to see the reactions of Zimmerman, and try to understand his demeanor.
I would then go to the jail where he was being held to get any video footage they have of the booking Zimmerman went though. Again, this video could show the attitude of Zimmerman, and this could paint a good picture of the type of person he is. If Zimmerman has already been released, I would get the records from the courts showing his bond.
The Hillsborough County Court House also keeps the warrant reports, and I would find out more on the case against Zimmerman. This will show what information they had against Zimmerman. There is a short time after the warrant has been served that reporters can receive a copy of the whole warrant, as long as leaking the information will not hurt the case they have against him.
The next step would be to obtain paperwork from the Department of Children and Families. I would use their web site, http://www.state.fl.us/cf_web/ , and look for an application to see what their hiring process is. At this point of my investigation, I would have known of his prior criminal history, and I would like to see if they did any prior investigation of Zimmerman before hiring him. I would like to speak directly with the hiring agents that interviewed and made the decision to hire Zimmerman. Knowing that Zimmerman had prior ‘red flags’ before applying with the DCF, I would like to know why they didn’t realize this sooner. I would try and gather any paperwork concerning reports on Zimmerman while working for DCF. I would like to know if they had comments regarding his behavior (in a report format, either email or in a folder), and see if he had any complaints from families he had been in contact with while he was working for them. If complaints were filed, I would obtain the person who filed the complaint to interview them as well.
I would also have an IT from DCF look into Zimmerman’s computer at work and look for any child pornography. I would also look for any emails conducted on his work computer between him and other employees to see who he was closest to. I would then conduct interviews with the closest employee’s of Zimmerman. I would see if they had any suspicion of his child pornography problems, and if they believed they did suspect anything, “Did they file a report?” I would also interview any relatives willing to attest to Zimmerman as a person.
If I were working for a newsroom, they would have access to the National Comprehensive Reports, and I would also look here for public records on Zimmerman. This will give me a background on Zimmerman to help further my investigation. This will provide any AKA’s that Zimmerman goes by, his date of birth, driver’s license information (this could include: issue date of license, height, eye color, previous driver’s license states, expiration date of license and hair color), his possible addresses associated with Zimmerman (this could include: dates he lived at residences and locations), phone listings for Zimmerman, possible property ownerships and deed transfers, vehicle registrations, Florida accidents, and any other licenses such as fishing and hunting.
After obtaining the legal residents of Zimmerman, I would locate his neighbors from his current residences, and also previous residences. I would find out if they ever suspected this from Zimmerman. I would check locations of other child predators in his communities to interview them. Many times, convicted criminals will provide good detailed information. After interviewing child predators in his area, we could find out if he had befriended them, and what relations they had with one another.
One last interview would be with Zimmerman’s attorney. The attorney could give insight as to what they are expecting, and what they are working towards as an outcome. This would give both sides of the story so that I am not bias in any way.
2) Florida is nationally known for putting a very high priority on the public's right of access to all governmental meetings and records. In fact, the principles of open government are embodied in and guaranteed by the State Constitution. Florida has the most open access to public records. Florida has the longest and richest regulations for open records. It is in the Florida Constitution that we are able to access public records. In Article 1 section 24 of the Florida Constitution, it expresses that every person has the right to receive public access.The Department of State is in charge of determining the retention of records. Each record has to be provided in the form that it is kept, but if a person ask to receive the information in another form, it is not the responsibility of the provider. The agent does not have to provide any records that they do not maintain. An agent can get in trouble for not providing records that they do maintain, and this is only if they know of the violation that they committed.
The Florida Sunshine Law gives the right to access governmental meetings, and it allows the right to access records made and received in connection with an official business of a public person. The law applies to any meeting with any state agency. The law requires that all meetings are open to the public, and each meeting must have reasonable notice of time, place and reason for the meeting. All minutes of public meetings must be recorded and available to the public.
There are a few ways of requesting public records, one being an over the phone request, another being an in-person request and also a written request. Requesting public records by a written request is the most accurate way to request records, because the agency will be fully aware of exactly what you are requesting. When requesting records, agencies will often make a requestor feel overwhelmed by giving them a large amount of paperwork, and the agency thinks the requestor will not deal with sorting though that much paperwork. Agencies are allowed to charge a maximum of $0.15 per copy, and also charge minimum wage for the amount of time recovering the record. If the requestor asks for a list of the fees inquired, the agency must provide the fee assessment.
If an agency is requested to provide a record they feel they do not have to provide, the agency must state the Florida Statute that gives them the right to prohibit access. The Legislature is the only governmental agency that can create an exemption to the public access requirement of Chapter 110, although other agencies do have exemptions.
Some of the exemptions that do apply to public information are school records (including exams), proprietary records (software, certain marketing agreements), private emails, most juvenile records and investigatory materials that are in process are some of the exemptions. In most investigatory cases, the time, date, location, nature and very existence of a crime, any arrest, name, age and address of victim (except sex related crimes) are not exempt.
All public gatherings, when two or more members are present, are considered a public meeting if there is any form of action that may take place, and these are considered public records. This also includes phone conversations or emails. If two members from a public agency meet at a restaurant for lunch, and they discuss a public matter, they must have first given awareness of their meeting in a timely manner prior to the meeting. After the lunch was over, they would be required to log the minutes too.
According to the First Amendment Foundation, www.floridafaf.org , a public agency must provide access to its records. The definition of public records is broad and public records include: “all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings, data processing software, or other material, regardless of the physical form, characteristics, or means of transmission, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in the connection with the transaction of official business by any agency.”
Http://myfloridalegal.com also provides more on Florida’s Sunshine Laws saying that they provide the right of access to governmental proceedings at both the state and local levels. We have a constitutionally guaranteed right of access. “All state and local collegial public bodies are covered by the open meetings requirements with the exception of judiciary and the state Legislature which has it’s own constitutional provision relating to access.
In June of 2007, Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist issued Executive Order 07-107, creating the Commission on Open Government Reform, according to www.flgov.com. The commission is made up of nine members within the Governor’s Office of Open Government in which they review, evaluate and issue recommendations on Florida’s public records and public meetings laws. The Commission looks over the public right to access records according to Section 119 and Section 289.011 of the Florida Statues, as well as Article 1, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution. To obtain the Executive Order 07-107 go to http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/orders/07-107-ogreformcomm.pdf. Governor Christ is making sure that Florida stands by it’s Sunshine Laws and allows public access to public records.
Some of the testimonies presented to the commission by editors and others have been agency not presenting public records when requested. The main problem has been that non-media people have been rejected when requesting public records, because agencies know that most non-media people don’t know their rights to public records. Another problem that has been brought up is that agencies will lie to anyone requesting public records to try and get out of presenting the proper paperwork requested. Agencies tell people that they will charge a large sum of money to provide the records requested to discourage the requestor. The main issue has really been that agencies just don’t follow the laws that are in place. Editors and others just want agencies to abide by the laws in place.
3) When preparing for an in-depth documentary on State Sen. Victor Crist, four websites come to mind, such as: www.senate.gov, www.moneyline.cq.com, www.opensecrets.org, and www.usaspecialservicesllc.com/background.
The first website I would use is the special services one. This website in particular would provide in-depth information on Sen. V. Crist like his assets, driver licenses, professional licenses, real properties, vehicles and much more. This web site provides the National Comprehensive Report that William March spoke about, and the site provides an extremely focused and thorough composite on people. This information will help show the amount of money he has by looking at the types of cars he drives, and also looking at the house he lives in and how many he owns.
The next web site that I would find useful is the Senate website. With this website, I could report on Sen. V. Crist voting records. This is very vital to the people at election time, because we can see where the candidate really stands on issues. This will show their voting habits, which can help determine whether the candidate changes their mind often on issues or whether they stay consistent with voting.
I would then look at Money Line. This is a web site that provides the campaign finance and lobbyist relationships. This source will show who has contributed to Sen. V. Crist campaign, this is important because it shows who the candidate associates with. Knowing the relationship between a candidate and lobbyists is good, because this will show what laws a candidate would like to change, and this is like getting more in-depth to their voting habits. We have learned to always, always follow the money.
OpenSecrets.org is “your nonpartisan guide to money’s influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Whether you’re a voter, journalist, activist, student or interested citizen, use this free site to shine light on our government. Count cash and make change.” OpenSecrets.org helps you follow patters also. This will show who goes out of their way to provide money to candidates. The importance of this money arises the question, why is this person providing this much money to this candidate. This will help raise the question, “are they providing money in return of ‘promises’ a candidate is to follow through with?” This website is to help voters make decisions and have an interest as to why they should do research on candidates.
One extra website that would come handy would be the tax collector web page. This will show if Sen. V. Crist pays his taxes or not. Since Sen. V. Crist is from Tampa we would use www.hillstax.org. As tax payers, this is very important in helping decide whether or not to vote for a candidate. This will help show if they are lying about what they believe in when it comes to paying taxes. This will also show if a candidate claims homestead, and even if the candidate shares the house with anyone.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Tax Collector's Office
Most people in Florida do not realize the access of public records that is available. Preston Trigg, with the Tax Collector’s office, does not require a person to pay for copies of records. He says, “Why should we charge you twice.” He was referring to the fact that Florida residences already pay taxes which pays for the paper, copier, ink, and employee’s salaries.
Trigg says that the best way to request records from the Tax Collector’s office is in writing. He said that most people will do a phone request, and in many cases he will have to call them back and say, “I think this is what you want but I’m not sure.” Often, when a request is made, communication isn’t as accurate over the phone as it is in writing.
“Records are the backbone of investigative reporting,” according to Trigg. A story I found to be very interesting was the one that Trigg shared with us about his friend who had requested all documents for a highway that was being built. That may not seem interesting, but the fact that all documents consisted of two truck loads of paperwork was. His friend was in Tallahassee and he did have to pay a fee because of the amount of paperwork involved. Amazingly, Trigg’s friend went through every document.
When requesting a public record and having your request denied; the agency has to provide the statue that prohibits them from providing your request. “If someone ask for a record that I know exist and I don’t give it to them, that’s a crime and that’s on me,” Trigg says.
There are exemptions of public records that are not available. School records (including exams), proprietary records (software, certain marketing agreements), private emails, most juvenile records and investigatory materials that are in process are some of the exemptions. In most investigatory cases, the time, date, location, nature and very existence of a crime, any arrest, name, age and address of victim (except sex related crimes) are not exempt.
In closing, one of the best advises that I took from Trigg was to, “Always, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY, when doing any form of reporting.”
Trigg says that the best way to request records from the Tax Collector’s office is in writing. He said that most people will do a phone request, and in many cases he will have to call them back and say, “I think this is what you want but I’m not sure.” Often, when a request is made, communication isn’t as accurate over the phone as it is in writing.
“Records are the backbone of investigative reporting,” according to Trigg. A story I found to be very interesting was the one that Trigg shared with us about his friend who had requested all documents for a highway that was being built. That may not seem interesting, but the fact that all documents consisted of two truck loads of paperwork was. His friend was in Tallahassee and he did have to pay a fee because of the amount of paperwork involved. Amazingly, Trigg’s friend went through every document.
When requesting a public record and having your request denied; the agency has to provide the statue that prohibits them from providing your request. “If someone ask for a record that I know exist and I don’t give it to them, that’s a crime and that’s on me,” Trigg says.
There are exemptions of public records that are not available. School records (including exams), proprietary records (software, certain marketing agreements), private emails, most juvenile records and investigatory materials that are in process are some of the exemptions. In most investigatory cases, the time, date, location, nature and very existence of a crime, any arrest, name, age and address of victim (except sex related crimes) are not exempt.
In closing, one of the best advises that I took from Trigg was to, “Always, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY, when doing any form of reporting.”
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Land Use Appeals
I attended the Land Use Appeals meeting on October 3rd. To my surprise the meeting was very hard to follow compared to the previous Code Enforcement Board Hearing I attended.
I felt that the structure of the Land Use Appeals meeting wasn’t very informative for people that had not attended one before. The meeting began with an oath of witness. This meeting didn’t have a pledge of allegiance, or roll call like the Code Enforcement Board Hearing. The Code Enforcement Board Hearing also began the hearing with a PowerPoint slide to help everyone follow along. Each person in violation of a code enforcement would go to the podium and explain their case.
In the Land Use Appeals meeting the board called the first person up to the podium, Barbara Dowling. Dowling began her case by asking for a continuance. She proceeded to say that the board did not have November 16, 2007 hearing information in the January 25, 2008 hearing, and she had not realized the mistake until recently when speaking with a board member. She felt that the current hearing wouldn’t be fair to continue without all information provided to each board member. Now that each member had the information (as of that day) she asked to continue the meeting, so each member would have accurate time to fully review all information provided.
After Dowling had presented her case, and with the request of a continuance, the board gave the opportunity for all members opposed to the continuance to stand and present their reasoning. Susan Spurgeon, with the council of Tampa Bay Water, and Steve Algen made their way to the podium to oppose. Algen said, “this has been the second time Downing had asked for a continuance, and I do not agree with giving her the opportunity for another one.” Spurgeon had began to speak without going to the podium and a board member said, “Mam, you have to be on the recorded,” and the board member pointed to the podium. Spurgeon had agreed with Algen and the board still granted Dowling a continuance.
After this case, I spoke with Spurgeon. She said that she was aggravated that the board granted Dowling a continuance. In reference to Dowling’s case Spurgeon said, “she was already heard,” and she didn’t feel the board would be bias if the board continued the hearing that day.
The next case concerned Jason Garrison of Lutz. This case was much longer, but I understood this one better than the previous case. The problem was that Garrison had built a fence 6 ft tall after a code had been in place stating that a fence within 15 ft. of the road had to be 4 ft tall or less. Garrison came to the hearing with pictures of his fence and the location of his property. He expressed that he had two children and no backyard. He had built the fence to allow his children to play outside in a safe environment. He didn’t feel safe allowing his children out in the yard playing without a private fence.
Patricia Ortiz with Planning and Growth Management Department of Hillsborough County opposed Garrison’s request to keep the fence at the 6 ft tall. Ortiz stated to the board that his variance request for the fence was adjacent to Hannah Rd and Sunset Lane in the Lutz rural area. She ask that the decision to make the fence 4 ft tall or less be upheld, and her request was granted.
Immediately after the hearing, Garrison stated, “they’re denying me what everyone else has. We build our fence exactly the way the surrounding neighbors did, we didn’t build it 10 ft tall and paint it hot pink.” He was upset with the board’s decision.
After speaking with Ortiz, she said, “his (Garrison’s) request was already denied in the first meeting that heard his case.” She was very pleased with the decision of the board.
I felt that the structure of the Land Use Appeals meeting wasn’t very informative for people that had not attended one before. The meeting began with an oath of witness. This meeting didn’t have a pledge of allegiance, or roll call like the Code Enforcement Board Hearing. The Code Enforcement Board Hearing also began the hearing with a PowerPoint slide to help everyone follow along. Each person in violation of a code enforcement would go to the podium and explain their case.
In the Land Use Appeals meeting the board called the first person up to the podium, Barbara Dowling. Dowling began her case by asking for a continuance. She proceeded to say that the board did not have November 16, 2007 hearing information in the January 25, 2008 hearing, and she had not realized the mistake until recently when speaking with a board member. She felt that the current hearing wouldn’t be fair to continue without all information provided to each board member. Now that each member had the information (as of that day) she asked to continue the meeting, so each member would have accurate time to fully review all information provided.
After Dowling had presented her case, and with the request of a continuance, the board gave the opportunity for all members opposed to the continuance to stand and present their reasoning. Susan Spurgeon, with the council of Tampa Bay Water, and Steve Algen made their way to the podium to oppose. Algen said, “this has been the second time Downing had asked for a continuance, and I do not agree with giving her the opportunity for another one.” Spurgeon had began to speak without going to the podium and a board member said, “Mam, you have to be on the recorded,” and the board member pointed to the podium. Spurgeon had agreed with Algen and the board still granted Dowling a continuance.
After this case, I spoke with Spurgeon. She said that she was aggravated that the board granted Dowling a continuance. In reference to Dowling’s case Spurgeon said, “she was already heard,” and she didn’t feel the board would be bias if the board continued the hearing that day.
The next case concerned Jason Garrison of Lutz. This case was much longer, but I understood this one better than the previous case. The problem was that Garrison had built a fence 6 ft tall after a code had been in place stating that a fence within 15 ft. of the road had to be 4 ft tall or less. Garrison came to the hearing with pictures of his fence and the location of his property. He expressed that he had two children and no backyard. He had built the fence to allow his children to play outside in a safe environment. He didn’t feel safe allowing his children out in the yard playing without a private fence.
Patricia Ortiz with Planning and Growth Management Department of Hillsborough County opposed Garrison’s request to keep the fence at the 6 ft tall. Ortiz stated to the board that his variance request for the fence was adjacent to Hannah Rd and Sunset Lane in the Lutz rural area. She ask that the decision to make the fence 4 ft tall or less be upheld, and her request was granted.
Immediately after the hearing, Garrison stated, “they’re denying me what everyone else has. We build our fence exactly the way the surrounding neighbors did, we didn’t build it 10 ft tall and paint it hot pink.” He was upset with the board’s decision.
After speaking with Ortiz, she said, “his (Garrison’s) request was already denied in the first meeting that heard his case.” She was very pleased with the decision of the board.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Vice Presidential Debate 2008
William March is the Chief Political Reporter for the Tampa Tribune. The day he came to speak with us was the same night of the Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, and Joe Biden, the Democrat senator from Delaware. The debate was held in St. Louis, Missouri. According to the Nielsen Media Research, 69.9 million people watched as Palin and Biden went face to face for the first time.
Both Palin and Biden shared their views of the presidential candidates, but they did not attach one another. Surprisingly to me, they both kept a smile on their faces almost the entire time. I was concerned that Palin wasn’t going to perform very well, because of her previous on air interviews earlier in the week. For Biden, there were also some concerns of how he would perform. I believe that each vice presidential candidates spent the entire week preparing for the debate, and that each candidate presented themselves and their presidential running mate very well. For Palin and McCain, I believe the VP debate helped bring confidence back to the Republican voters.
The financial market was a hot topic in the early exchanges between Palin and Biden. Palin used the word “maverick” to describe John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, multiple times during the debate. Biden laughed as Palin described McCain as a “maverick,” and he criticized McCain as being out of touch. One thing that Palin stressed was how the Democrats are supposed to be for the middle class American’s and give tax breaks, but it was “Senator Obama that voted 94 times for higher taxes.
Comparing the debate between the vice presidential candidates and the presidential candidates, I was surprised at the professionalism and knowledge that both groups had. I thought the VP candidates did just as well as the presidential candidates, and I did not expect for that outcome. The VP candidates discuss the war issues, while their biggest topic seemed to be on the financial market. On the other hand, the presidential candidates’ biggest topic was the war issues.
Both Palin and Biden shared their views of the presidential candidates, but they did not attach one another. Surprisingly to me, they both kept a smile on their faces almost the entire time. I was concerned that Palin wasn’t going to perform very well, because of her previous on air interviews earlier in the week. For Biden, there were also some concerns of how he would perform. I believe that each vice presidential candidates spent the entire week preparing for the debate, and that each candidate presented themselves and their presidential running mate very well. For Palin and McCain, I believe the VP debate helped bring confidence back to the Republican voters.
The financial market was a hot topic in the early exchanges between Palin and Biden. Palin used the word “maverick” to describe John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, multiple times during the debate. Biden laughed as Palin described McCain as a “maverick,” and he criticized McCain as being out of touch. One thing that Palin stressed was how the Democrats are supposed to be for the middle class American’s and give tax breaks, but it was “Senator Obama that voted 94 times for higher taxes.
Comparing the debate between the vice presidential candidates and the presidential candidates, I was surprised at the professionalism and knowledge that both groups had. I thought the VP candidates did just as well as the presidential candidates, and I did not expect for that outcome. The VP candidates discuss the war issues, while their biggest topic seemed to be on the financial market. On the other hand, the presidential candidates’ biggest topic was the war issues.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Circuit Court
Pat Frank, Clerk of Circuit Court, was energetic and proud of the position she holds. She said that her office is "the most important office in the county that people know least about. We handle hundreds of millions of dollars of the counties money." It was shocking to hear that eleven people in her office are responsible for sending 65,000 employees a paycheck every two weeks. We were informed that they keep records of the county and all official records. One big rave that is evolving more and more every day is the use of internet and Frank said that the most recent transactions are accessible via the web.
"As the economy goes sour" crime will rise, Frank said. Because we are facing a touch economy, I thought it was very relevant to get on the topic of foreclosures. Frank said that the only way people are avoiding forecloses is by going bankrupt. "This economy is horrible, unemployment rate is increasing. I was born in the depression and I was a depression baby," Frank continued.
Since the year 2005, the Circuit Court has returned an average of $8.9 million to the Board of County Commissioners, because it is unspent money. As the economy has been run down, in 2007 they only returned $4.6 million, and Frank suspects money returned this year will be very minimal...much less compared to last year.
"As the economy goes sour" crime will rise, Frank said. Because we are facing a touch economy, I thought it was very relevant to get on the topic of foreclosures. Frank said that the only way people are avoiding forecloses is by going bankrupt. "This economy is horrible, unemployment rate is increasing. I was born in the depression and I was a depression baby," Frank continued.
Since the year 2005, the Circuit Court has returned an average of $8.9 million to the Board of County Commissioners, because it is unspent money. As the economy has been run down, in 2007 they only returned $4.6 million, and Frank suspects money returned this year will be very minimal...much less compared to last year.
The Circuit Court employees a total of 917 people. Frank says, “there’s always something going on in this office.” I was surprised to hear that they receive 1,000 calls a day, and even more surprising, 20%, if not more, are calls intended for other groups other than the Circuit Court. Also, about 30-35% of the calls need a Spanish speaker on the receiving end. The Circuit Court records a total of forty-two types of documents, and there are 100 documents being e-recorded each day.
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