NOVEMBER 2021  

Data Practices Office Annual Report is Online

The Data Practices Office's Annual Report is now available on our website. The report provides a snapshot of our office's major activities during the past year. It includes an overview of topic areas of the questions we received from our partners in the public and government, a brief recap of the advisory opinions issued by the Commissioner of Administration, and a summary of feedback we received about our workshops and trainings. We hope you find the report informative. As always, we appreciate any feedback on our work. Feel free to email us at info.dpo@state.mn.us.

Upcoming Data Practices Trainings

Law Enforcement Data Remote Workshop on November 17

The Data Practices Office will be hosting a Law Enforcement Data Remote Workshop on November 17 that provides a primer (or a refresher) about the key provisions in Minnesota law governing law enforcement data, including:

• Discussion of general legal requirements, including criminal investigative data, juvenile data, traffic accident data, body camera video data, and more;
• Real-life problem solving scenarios based on actual inquiries; and
• Time for questions and answers about the day-to-day issues that involve law enforcement data.

This workshop will be held remotely on WebEx, and it does not require in-person attendance. The cost to attend this workshop is $250.

More information about this workshop is available on our website.

Schedule of Upcoming Workshops

Can't make it to our November workshop? Don't worry!

We've posted a tentative schedule of all our upcoming workshops through April 2022 on the Data Practices Office website.

Data Practices Potpourri Webinar

The Data Practices Office will be offering a free Data Practices Potpourri webinar on Wednesday, December 1 at 1 p.m. This installment will include a discussion about the top questions our office received throughout November as well as a question and answer session.

More information about this free webinar is available on our website, and you can view recordings of past webinars on our YouTube Channel.

Advisory Opinion Updates

Response to Data Requests; Security Information

In Advisory Opinion 21-006, a member of the public asked the Commissioner whether a County Sheriff's Office responded appropriately to a data request and a request for a "short description explaining the necessity" for a security information classification, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.37. The Commissioner concluded that the Sheriff's Office did not respond appropriately to the data request because the response was ambiguous and did not properly indicate whether responsive data existed. The Commissioner also concluded that the Sheriff's Office did not respond appropriately to a request for a "short description explaining the necessity for the classification" after withholding responsive data as "security information" pursuant to section 13.37.