MAYOR-PLANET EXCHANGE SHEDS LIGHT ON PPD DATA LOSS
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, APRIL 15-17, 2016) — Happy Tax Day, people. THE PLANET hopes that you have filed on time. You have until midnight to get that valuable postmark on your returns.
We have received several inquiries wondering if mayor Linda Tyer responded to our questions on the Pittsfield Police Department‘s lost records and subsequent coverup. The mayor did respond. Unlike her predecessor, this mayor understands the value of remaining in dialogue with the media — especially the sole local media outlet that does not simply “rip and read” official press releases but one that actually dares to press with questions, followups, and challenges.
Q-and-A as Back-and-Forth
Once again, in the interest of full discussion, is the full exchange. This is THE PLANET‘s original e-mail, sent on Friday, April 8, after we broke the story locally:
I’ll probably have more Qs, but for now, what about the delay in this coming to light? It would appear that both the PPD and the DA knew about this at least by Sept. of last year. Why wasn’t this shared with the public? Did the mayor have something to do with that? How much data was lost? Was the data backed up? How many other cases, besides the one, have been compromised? Do you intend to meet with the press on this, with the chief and the DA?
This is the mayor’s response:
——– 000 ——–
The police department will respond to any and all public records requests in a manner that complies with the public records law. Some things are exempt such as materials that are related to an ongoing investigation. I encourage you to use that process to seek information.
Here’s my response to your questions (and thank you very much for your patience):
- THE PLANET: It would appear that both the PPD and the DA knew about this at least by Sept. of last year. Why wasn’t this shared with the public?
- The appropriate interested parties, including the district attorney, defense attorneys, and judges that had cases before them, were informed that there was an equipment failure.
- THE PLANET: Did the mayor have something to do with that?
- I have no knowledge of what the prior mayor knew or didn’t so I can’t speak to any directives he may or may not have given in this matter.
- THE PLANET: How much data was lost?
- It’s my understanding that about 2% of the data is corrupted.
- THE PLANET: Was the data backed up?
- Depending upon the circumstances surrounding the situation sometimes a CD copy is burned.
- THE PLANET: How many other cases, besides the one, have been compromised?
- I don’t know.
- THE PLANET: Do you intend to meet with the press on this, with the chief and the DA?
- I don’t anticipate that the Chief and I will be meeting with the press at this time. I cannot speak for the District Attorney.
——– 000 ——–
This prompted THE PLANET to follow up on April 13 with:
Thanks for the responses.
The mayor sent this to THE PLANET yesterday:
I hope this response clarifies my answers:
THE PLANET: I’m asking if it concerns you that the PPD, for which you have ultimate responsibility now, hid information?
- I am not concerned. The Pittsfield Police Department did not hide information. The police department is an organization, like many organizations either private or public, that relies heavily on technology. It is a reality that in our modern work environments equipment and technology, on rare occasions, fails to properly function.
THE PLANET: Will there be any accountability, for example, the IT department?
- Accountability for improved performance depends upon an investment in updating the equipment. This was an equipment failure, not a human failure. That investment will be part of the city’s FY17 capital budget and I hope that the city council will support the request.
THE PLANET sent this back today (April 15):
——– 000 ——–
Commenting is a Privilege, Not a Right
That completes the exchange. It is open, up front, and out there for examination. One trend is apparent three months into Tyer’s administration: It is responsive. THE PLANET has seen this not only with the mayor but also with other officials, for example, PMA investigatory panel chairman Tom Sakshaug, who yesterday came on the site to directly respond to comments. We add that the comments on both sides of the exchange were intelligently written, respectful in tone, helpful in criticism, and sincere in intent.
… which leads us to The Comment Line. Yes, it’s open, and it’s ready for all topics. Rest assured, though, that THE PLANET is fully aware of the fairly recent tone “for the worse.” Thoughtful readers know what and who we’re talking about. We balance as best we can our desire for full participation and unlimited free speech with the counter-load of the need to weed out the bad apples. Commenting on this site of no one’s right. It is a privilege granted exclusively by THE PLANET. We allow as loose a rein as intelligent discourse permits. Recently, several have gone beyond that. We warn them: Reel it in. Ranting shall be looked at with extreme disfavor. And don’t feign surprise when we pull the plug. Notice that in the exchange with Sakshaug, Southeast, one of this site best contributors, did not resort to ranting and raving. He reasoned. He didn’t rant. As such, he received an appropriate reply. Rants cause readers to either ignore you or ridicule you. That’s when things begin to unravel.
If one allows comments to web comment, it’s nearly impossible — unlike with good, old-fashioned print — to “weed out all the non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in our beloved Squadron.” However, that being said, THE PLANET can honestly say that our site is better than most in that respect. Generally speaking, the level of discourse in the “Comments” department has been high. We aim to keep it that way. We shall be, and become, ruthless in that regard as some point soon — if necessary. Of course, the best policy, y’all, is to give us your A-Game. Do that, and then you may find yourself being taken seriously.
Do yourself proud. Let us admire your words rather than have them as evidence, Exhibit A, of your ignorance.
With that, go at it.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
————————————————————————————————
“And yet I still continue to flow through a world I don’t know.” — Al Cooper, “I Stand Alone,” (1968).
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
All you can eat, Baaaabeeeee..
Tax Deadline Alert: 2015 Tax Returns Are Due April 18, 2016
Plus, Maine & Massachusetts Residents Get an Additional Day
Emancipation Day: April 15, 2016
Emancipation Day is an official public holiday in the District of Columbia. It usually falls on April 16, but when April 16 is a Saturday – which it is in 2016 – then Emancipation Day moves to the previous day (Friday).
Councilor Simonelli should be informed of the poor job today of the City Street Sweeping in his Ward. Like another poster said, more dust was coming from the machine than was picking up. Can you say, car wash!
thanks Dan. I try to go through life respectfully. it honors my parents and the values I was brought up with.
On the main topic of the day, I am most impressed by both Tom Sakshaug and the Mayor’s willingness to not only comment – but to admit when they don’t know something. while I would prefer and “I don’t know but I will find out”, a simple “I don’t know indicates you’d rather be honest than lay down the B.S.
I am not sure if I completely support the Mayor – but she has my respect. I learned that if I 100% agree with folks 2% of the time, we are doing swimming well. I’m ok with a 50/50 split or close to it.
Plausible explanation by the mayor, but too much disappears in Pittsfield—-phone call records——a video of an old woman arrested for baking a pie with an assault paring knife—–all a coincidence I’m sure. Is there a bridge in Pittsfield that someone can sell to me?
My perception. Mayor Bianchi would not even talk to you Dan. Mayor Tyer talked but said very little. Looks like she was being protective and evasive. Big surprise.
Just wondering if Mr McCandless has s PHD in bullshit. How could he say that closing a school would not be cost saving. For some reason he speculates that more students would go school choice (Families will opt out no matter what). He has no facts to back this, or the claim class sizes would increase, so much to cause the shift out of district. If they closed one of the smaller schools (250 students) that would add 40 pupils per grade, disbursed among the existing 7 schools hardly seems like a hardship. In cases where it is a hardship those teachers could be retained in the fuller school. Not to mention the elimination of Principle, and all the administration, plus putting Pittsfield public school administration in closed school along with storage facilities currently at Hibbard. Selling both Hibbard & Mercer and getting them back on the tax rolls.
Well, you have to have a b s before you get the phd.
One question that seems to linger is why is there no back up. What kind of an IT dept doesn’t back up important files. CD’s are cheap, especially when purchased in bulk. I don’t really buy the whole we need to spend a bunch of money for updated equipment excuse. This whole thing is not an equipment problem, it is a IT dept failure problem. If the responsible person or persons are not up to the task then replace them. That’s what the private sector does.
I agree. The Mayor’s answer suggests an occasional backup, depending on the situation. Sounds as though we can look forward to more data loss in the future. She also suggests that informing the public was not appropriate which seems very bianchi-esque.
Still, as others have said, she deserves much respect for the communication and the respect she is showing the Planet and its readers.
I agree. A simple thumb drive would do the trick. You don’t need an IT person for that. Just a little common sense. The Mayor stated that it was an equipment failure not a human failure. I think it was a little bit of both.
Lastly thank you Mayor Tyer for responding. It is refreshing.
These back up systems are usually mirrored over by companies off-site to maintain integrity. Devices fail, the cloud would not.
It is my field. Shakes is right. Cloud doesn’t fail. But I think the world of Mayor Tyer for engaging with The P;anet. Mayor B didn’t realize that when he dissed The Planet he dissed his audience. DV has a big following of the right people of you get my drift.
In her own words, the Mayor shall be known as, The Stabilizer. So it is said and shall be written.
With O’Connell selling all the convenience stores in Pittsfield do the new owners get to have tobacco licenses? Are they transferable? Can they be sold?
transfers are available under the ordinance as long as they do it within some timeframe established AND they stay at the same location.
I think they cannot move them about like liquor licenses are.
Doubt that the sale is without a transfer.
The most striking comment is the one about “burning a CD”. For the past ten years it has become very easy and cheap to plug a USB harddrive into a computer. Moreover cloud storage is ubiquitous. While I don’t know if the PPD can legally use a cloud they can certainly use USB storage drives so why don’t they? I can’t remember the last time I “burned a CD”. Many laptops today don’t have CD readers or writers. So why it the PPD so archaic?
I was wondering that too. My laptop had no CD drive. USB storage is both cheap and effective. Without realizing it the answers reveal how behind the times PPD (and corner office) are.
I detect a little self righteous hypocrisy in the wind and it’s not coming from the north west
REDACTED.
Government typically uses a lot of old equipment since no one wants to spend money to upgrade (least of all the taxpayers) since that seems to be a never ending money pit. even as technology gets cheaper – the sheer quantity makes it a lot of money.
the reason I think now that thy want to spend $30K on a back up system would be to make it an enterprise program. so it would back up stuff automatically from all connected drives and devices – and store it without human intervention.
So an $8.00 thumb drive may work great for any of us. As posters to the Planet, we certainly are more anal, ocd or whatever. but to depend on an organization with 100 users all working different shifts, and then how do you account for those thumb drives, terra drives, etc. this way it all goes to one magic cloud run by your IT staff, set up on a time schedule, and periodically verified that the back up in fact took place and is retrievable (try to recover and review one file each day at random,) may in fact – cost $30K.
now the debate is: if it prevents this from happening again and gives the citizens faith that their technology is working and working correctly – is $30K out of $150 million a good use of funds? I can be persuaded. if we think of every dollar relative to our own resources, there is no amount of spending which can ever be justified. We need context. And btw, even if the budget should be 130 million -the $30K is an equally insignificant amount if it leads to the outcomes we desire.
We need to get by every event being a conspiracy and try to see how transparency leads to better government. sometimes – we need to part with our first communion money to make that happen.
That sounds reasonable southeast except it was stated by Chief Wynn that the estimate of 30K included “no backup or redundancy. “
Is everyone really convinced there really was a data loss in the first place? Incredibly convenient time for one to occur I would say. If Pittsfield politics did not have the dubious reputation that it does I might be more easily taken in. But so many funny things go on here that I am permanently pessimistic.
2% data loss. 98% recovered. Yeah.
In that 2% of corrupted data, just happens to be the video in question.
The other 98% absolutely nobody cares about.
Your common sense will tell you what happened here.
I would rather see the Pittsfield Police put in there budget for equipment upgrade more than for more officers and cars ,
To Donna M
My post is missing, sorry.
I’d rather see Pittsfield Police putting a dent into crime rather than donuts.
It had to be done.
I think the issue is more about the coverup itself -the lack of accountability to the public – than the 2% lost. This bars that a previous poster could be correct in that it was actually a *different* video they wanted to lose. And we have heard about this mysterious second case the DA was in search of.
Barring this, these Boston reporters were investigating one story and found themselves stepping into a much bigger one. I truly believe this booking video would reveal nothing more then a bunch of extremely solicitous and embarrassed cops dealing quite gently with a spitting mad and hurting elderly woman hollering to make a phone call.
“a spitting mad and hurting elderly woman hollering to make a phone call.”
You are talking about a woman, minding her own business in the privacy of her own home baking pies.
Cops dealing gently? Now that is pure fantasy.
We will never know now will we. They made sure that video does not exist.
She should sue the city for everything she can.
When someone knocks at your door, you are no obligation to answer it. Cops cannot enter without a warrant. If she never answered the door, the cops could not have thrown her to the ground, abused and arrested her.
There was no other case on that harddrive the DA or anyone else was looking for. That video was destroyed, in my opinion, to protect the police from a huge lawsuit. Its pretty obvious.
Well, do we know that there is *not* a lawsuit? There’s plenty of evidence remaining without the video…I think she would win. And yes, there is another case the DA was looking for.
Actually if you read the story in the Berkshire Eagle, she never answered the door. The article said her door was unlocked. That means they just walked right in. No wonder the poor woman grabbed her knife. She thought she had not police, but intruders. She was probably terribly confused and scared at that point. Only to be pulled to the ground and arrested of course.
So the police entered the home illegally.
No lawsuit? Really?
Let me guess, this other ficticious case that no one knows about, the DA was supposedly looking for was also lost in the 2%? Give me a break.
Cops enter the home illegally.
Use brutal force on an 88 year old woman.
Arrest her.
Then the booking video ends up deleted.
Hey lets make up a ficticious case that also got deleted to take some heat off of this one.
The police can enter a home as long as they are reasonably sure somebody is in danger, and that’s a very low threshold.
No, they cannot.
You have a right to protect yourself in your own home.
Using up to and including lethal force.
Even against the police.
This woman’s civil rights were violated.
The police not only were confused about the house but must have been confused about what year it was. They thought it was 1943 in Nazis Germany and treated her like a Jew.
She should sue the city of Pittsfield and I hope she does.
I agree. The confused 88 year old thought it was a home invasion. By the time she realized they were cops, she was being arrested.
Try it and let me know how that works out for you.
please visualize there after that and citizens at…..keyboard seems to be going
I guess I missed something. Can anyone fill me in on what they’re doing on North Street now? Their pretty sidewalks are all torn up again.
http://www.cityofpittsfield.org/city_hall/community_development/community_development_and_housing/streetscape.php
Streetscape Improvement Goals
Improve Pedestrian Safety, Circulation and Comfort
Stimulate Economic Development
Incorporate Culture/Heritage/History
Enhance Aesthetics
Reduce Traffic Bottlenecks
Streetscape Improvements
New Sidewalk Treatments
Special Planting Areas & Trees
New Bump-outs at Crosswalks
New Ornamental Lighting
Increased Parking Spaces
Bike Racks/Benches/Trash & Recycling Receptacles
Public Art Spaces
Soooo…same project. Yikes.
Thanks Troll!
Keep the New York B Team in action.
Twenty two Viet Vets commit suicide in the US every day and this site cherrishes [those] who disparages Vets.
No one is disparaging Vets on this site. Why don’t you and the Wiz create your own blog if you don’t like it here
Anyone notice that on the Wiz’s PCTV show, during his usual segment of televising them, showing them, and commenting on the exact Planet posts, at the point,where he simply displays for his viewers this blog, the cameraman scrolled down far enough on the lap top the Wiz was reading from to clearly display the name Donna M.to all his viewers. Apparently the Wiz is indeed Donna M or perhaps, he carries,reads from and writes on her tablet.
He has been promising to start his own blog for couple of years, although his facebook pages are stagnant.
I believe he emails, texts, or calls him/her and his words are transcribed (after spelling and grammar corrections). This would explain why his responses to particular posters often come a day or two late.
I can tell you for a fact that “Donna M” is indeed Mr. CG.
Now more on target yes give credit to the mayor for responding but is our standard that low? Cant we expect comments from public officials?
If, as Mr. Valenti says in his post above, “the level of discourse in the ‘Comments’ department [is] high” then I agree with you. We should absolutely expect that communication.
Post on his Facebook page
Worry abut those who can tax and spend.
Post on his face book page
I’m not disparaging vets. I said all along, if every stone is left unturned then vet services and senior services shouldn’t be given a free pass for finding savings.
Here is a great story about how cheap camera systems are.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Frustrated-Sheriff-Purchases-Security-Cameras-for-Santa-Clara-County-Main-Jail-370886591.html
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith late Wednesday helped crews install new security cameras inside the county’s main jail.
Smith has been asking for more cameras at the jail since the August beating death of an inmate, which was not caught on surveillance video. County officials told the sheriff it would take two years and $20 million to add to the existing system.
“I was frustrated. It’s been going on for six months and it would be two years before (getting the cameras) installed,” Smith said. “We knew we needed an interim system.”
The sheriff in response asked IT workers what cameras to buy and went shopping at Costco. Smith used her own credit card to pay $761 for a 12-camera system.
County workers spent Wednesday night installing the cameras in Module 4A, with inmate privacy in mind. The sheriff said cameras will not be pointed at cells and do not record audio.
The system will be able to store video for 30 days and for the first time record what is happening inside inmate modules.
“If there is a complaint against deputies we can look at tape,” Smith said. “If (there is an) assault on staff we can use it as evidence. It’s good for everyone.”
Actually if you read the story in the Berkshire Eagle, the 88 year old woman never answered the door. The article said her door was unlocked. How would they know that if they had knocked or rang a bell and waited for her to let them in? That means they just walked right in. No wonder the poor woman grabbed her knife. She thought she had not police, but intruders. She was probably terribly confused and scared at that point. Only to be pulled to the ground and arrested of course.
I found a high speed, high powered day night Bosch camera that if you read the description, seems like it could easily capture tail numbers on airplanes at the PMA.
It has a 260′ range, so if it were installed anywhere near the runway – it would capture the number while the plane was on the ground.
the camera is $1999. Add a PC, a terra drive, some other goodies – even a second camera – and $5K would be the max you would spend.
I have a feeling that you could recoup that in a month or two. Even if we paid a part timer to collect the money during the summer, or put up signs with instructions on how to pay (at one price) or notifying plane owners they’d get a bill at twice the posted price. and f they don’t pay – we send it to collections, where the collections cost gets added to the amount owed.
EZ Pass will be doing that soon (though the upcharge will be a dollar or two, which on certain tolls could be a 100% convenience fee.
here’s just one link…
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/880606-REG/Bosch_f_01u_247_940_NEI_30_Dinion_Infrared_Day_Night.html/prm/alsVwDtl
I’m not good at this – so I think it can be copied to a browser.
Don’t overestimate the landing fees. They are pretty insignificant. The city wants to make money, focus on the fuel.
I’m an all of the above kind of a guy. Notice that Lyon Aviation never gave an exact gallonage number. They run it so they should know that to the gallon.
One of the delivery guys said they are one of the larger fuel customers the Port services. So you are correct. the tank farm is probably long since paid for and probably has many more years of life to it – so guess what? We will continually take that hit.
There was also a post on the number of employees Lyon has. That seems high based on a count of the cars in the lot when I drive ion on a random basis. since car counts are good enough for the Committee, they suffice for me.
Exactly how many people do they employ who come to Tamarack Road each day? They seem to be pretty secretive about their business – which since it is private is reasonable. but they use a public asset at an almost free price, so they should need to disclose everything about their monetization of our asset.
that is why Westwood tenants should be similarly compelled. I hope everyone makes a profit. I just don’t liker subsidizing it to the degree that we are being sucked dry.
Thats the thing SE. Exactly. Lyon is private company so they can expect certain protections from pubic panels but the big deal-breaker there is that they as you said “use a public asset at an almost free price.”
I ask Mr. Sakshaug and the panel directly: Please illuminate Lyon operations. # of employees, rent, exact number verified of gallons of aviation fuel sold and all else.
Please do this. You may uncover the key to the whole thing…
These new Captains on the Deadliest Catch are real douchbags.
Yeah, I had to put on the Kardashians
Cookie Gilchrist. Testing.. miable transcript or. 10-8″ elector San 1 PedersMoc.
Now who could disagree with that?
I think it is long passed the time for the police to put out a report on just what happen. The 2 officers reputation are at stake they deserve for this to be clean up and put to rest no matter how it turns out.
Sanders and Cruz should just bow out, it ain’t going to happen.
No way. Cruz will be president. He is by far the best candidate. Trump is an egomaniac and Hillary can’t be trusted. Go Cruz!!
I do not know what it means to be a private company and what it is they need to keep secret or why. But what DO we know about them? Got my curiosity up and I would still like to know if the authorities care about planes with unknown cargo coming in and out of a public airport. Seem like a legitimate concern but once again we live in Pittsfield, Ma. and we have our own set of rules and values.
generally, a privately held company doesn’t release much information. no need. the costs and revenue are all theirs.
but I think that a company that feeds of a public entity should at least need to disclose those things that the public support is in lie of.
that includes fuel flow, how much the tank farm cost, has the cost plus a reasonable (12-15%) return been earned, and how many years is left on the agreement. maybe also we could know if there is an inspection report showing the remaining useful life of that tank farm. We should learn exactly how much in rent they pay and what the rent is for, and it seems reasonable to know the salaries or wages of people based in Pittsfield. I would want to know the zip code of those employees.
I would accept the owners just listing themselves and not knowing their salaries since they do have business interests outside this community, in fact almost none of their flights originate here (with passengers).
I’d like to know the stuff I listed the other day about Westwood leaseholders as well.
I really don’t care about their gross sales. I presume if you stay in business – you are making enough to satisfy your needs and I don’t need to second guess that.
but where these folks intersect with the public i’d like to know a good reason why we can’t learn this kind of info or cancel the agreements.
By now most posters have figured out I do not see the PMA as a vehicle for prosperity in Pittsfield or the County. I don’t see Williamstown supporting an expansion ion N Adams or Gt Barrington or Egremont supporting an expansion on Rt 23.
So its us, or one of the airports 50 or so miles and an hour’s drive away. that hour has value or it doesn’t. my bet – the limo business would increase.
And finall
Terry Kinnas for Mayor. Trump for President. Bernie is to old and Hilary is googling up special interests donations.
who?
I hope that if nothing else the airport panel can shed light on what the deal is with Lyon and then come up with cost savings recommendations for the mayor.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/04/18/vendor-detroit-schools-corruption-case/83176844/
Ah yes Detroit…our sister city! Thanks heh heh. Interesting reading.