Jason Leopold : VIDEO Leopold, with the international online news channel Vice News filed, an open records request asking for any and all emails police sent about Brown and the protests in the five weeks that followed. He made national headlines when he had to pay $1200 for the search which produced seven email exchanges he published. Thats right, just seven emails, in more than a month. When we asked about the citys search procedures, Fergusons city manager issued a statement. The City has instructed the contractor to search all emails on the system, said Ferguson City Manager John Shaw. Including deleted emails for the keywords provided by the requester. But we started asking more questions when we discovered a report on the email search. Its from Acumen Consulting, the St. Louis-based company the city hired to do the email search. One line describes the search process. Per City of Ferguson policy, it is assumed at this time that no one has violated the no email deletions policy, the document sent by Acumen to Ferguson says. Whats that mean? Two computer experts we consulted called it unusual. This does not appear to be a thorough search, said Minneapolis based cyber-security expert Mark Lanterman. Lanterman says although the consultant may have searched for some deleted emails, the only comprehensive way to do a search is to look for deleted – and purged deleted - emails, too. Thats because even after you hit delete – and clean out your trash box – they sometimes survive deep in a computers memory. But if you check the email search contract, there is a section called Assumptions and Conditions. The Assumptions and Conditions clause from Acumen states: It is our understanding that no one has intentionally deleted or purged email. St. Louis computer expert Vinnie Troia says making an assumption like that is like putting blinders on the search, and in his professional opinion, the Ferguson email search was not complete. It isnt, Troia said. As youre looking at a forensic process, the first thing youre looking at is deleted items. No one knows for sure whether there were any deleted emails, but it raises the possibility that a hidden pool of them went undetected, a possibility Vice News Leopold said Ferguson officials didnt explain, and that he didnt know until 5 On Your Side contacted him. No, no idea at all, Leopold said. Im absolutely suspicious about what was deleted in the aftermath of Michael Browns death. And when you read the consultants report carefully, you discover even he thought additional searches could have been done. It is possible to perform a per computer deleted item search, the consultant told Ferguson officials it would require 30 minutes per computer request. The report goes on… Per our discussion regarding budget control, I have stopped the search at five hours and am presenting the results, Acumen said in its final report to Ferguson officials on the search. That has the reporter who paid big bucks for what he thought was a complete search – wondering: I do believe there is a smoking gun out there someplace and its likely in someones trashbin, Leopold said. Im outraged, and I think the public should be as well. We contacted the consultant, Acumen, multiple times trying to get clarification about all of this. No one responded, but no one has suggested the consultant is a fault. Without a complete search, experts say there is no way to know whether there are any deleted emails. To find out, 5 On Your Side Investigates filed an open records request for every deleted Ferguson email since August. The city wants a down payment of $500 before they start. Well let you k ksdk/story/news/local/ferguson/2014/11/19/ferguson-police-deleted-e-mails-and-search-questioned/19304949/
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 16:49:24 +0000
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