School Zone Freedom of Information Act Requests

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MPD has maps of the school zones in Milwaukee that are not released to the public. Attached is my non-lawyer written but hopefully sufficient FOIA request that I'll be sending to the MPD soon. Please post your requests to you friendly neighborhood police departments, the results (did they give you the run-around?), and any information you receive.

Maybe now we'll have the information we need to avoid committing a felony!

FYI I'll be sending mine to District 3 since that's where records are apparently kept.

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Can't open the file, but thanks for getting it going for all of us.

Watch, the map is all blacked out...:cuss:

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the file is in word 2007 - time to update your MS Office

Also, in WI the law is called "Open Records" law instead of FOIA.

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Yep, had to run an update for my (now old) office.

The letter looks good to me. Any idea how long this kind of request should take?

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The Wisconsin AG's office guidelines state 10 days.

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/AWP/2007OMCG-PRO/2007_PR_Outline.pdf

DOJ policy is that ten working days is generally a reasonable time for response, or, if the response cannot be completed within that time, a communication indicating that a response is being prepared.

Click to expand...

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http://www.examiner.com/x-5361-Milwaukee-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2009m4d10-Open-Records-to-the-publicNot-much-is-a-secret

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I think you have a typo in your return address. No?

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Pointman wrote:

1000' is actually 0.1894 miles. If you figure there are usually 10 blocks per mile, a two block radius should be enough. However, the older the city, the smaller the block size, typically. Milwaukee is an older city, so many sections will have 17 blocks per mile, meaning each block is 311', and 3 blocks would be 933'. There are some sections of the city with larger superblocks, so it's hard to calculate distance based on how many blocks away from something you are.

Another thing you may notice is city blocks are often rectangular, so travelling three North-South blocks isn't the same distance as three East-West blocks in the same area.

Click to expand...

Careful.

Around here it's 16 blocks to a mile, not 10. The "big streets" usually go every half a mile - 68th, 76th, 84th, 92nd, etc.

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Pointman, thanks for the great work. Is there a clearer copy of that map though?

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SHAM-WOW. That's absolutely ludicrous, I had no idea it was that bad.



Looks like we're gonna spend a lot of time downtown...

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If I remember correctly the map that the officer had last saturday was in color.

The map has significantly more detail when the streets are in yellow, which has been lost when it was replicated in black and white. :banghead:

was it given in color when you recieved it Pointman? or did they give you a photocopy?



great work none the less! :celebrate

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Even more confusing than I thought.

Milwaukee is typically laid out with 16 blocks per mile east west, and 8 blocks per mile north south. Hahahha.

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Holy black dots Batman! This school zone statute has got to be unconstitutional since it prohibits the majority of the citizens of Milwaukee from exercising their constitutional right to protect themselve.

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The games played in this bulletin are interesting.

First, note that the bulletin conveniently fails to mention that a school zone does not include private property. 948.605(2)(b)(1) Stats.

Next, notice the completely dishonest attempt to try to expand the definition of a school zone. The bulletin states that the definition of a school for the purpose of identifying a school zone includes those areas described in 948.61(1)(c), however the school zone statute clearly and expressly includes ONLY those areas within a 1000' (not including private property) of places defined in 948.61(1)(b)-- and ONLY those places described in 948.61(1)(b).

The training bulletin illegitimately includes areas within a thousand feet of "recreation area or athletic field or any other property owned, used or operated for school administration." If this ridiculous and unsupported expansion of the school zone definition was actually true then, as examples, school zones in Madison would include a thousand foot radius of the school district administration building on Dayton Street, even though there is no school and no children at that location, plus it would include a thousand foot radius around the Pflaum Road Madison School District kitchen facility where meals for the Madison schools are prepared even though the nearest school is at least 3/4's of a mile away.

The Milwaukee PD bulletin is flawed, incomplete and deceitful. Is anyone surprised?

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A patriotic MPD officer got in touch with me and gave me the official map!