Skip to main content

Privacy Notice

Privacy is important to us

Here at the Washington State Office of Independent Investigations (OII), we want to make sure you fully understand what information we may collect from you and why.  We want to ensure you that personal information you share with us will be protected.

OII is working hard to foster a culture of data awareness including protecting private data.  We have implemented seven privacy principles to accomplish this, and our staff are required to take privacy training.

OII Privacy Principles

  • Security
  • Purpose driven access
  • Data minimization
  • Transparency
  • Accountability
  • Due diligence
  • Lawful, fair, responsible use of data

When you are visiting the OII website, we do not collect any personally identifiable metadata from you.  In fact, the only personal data we may collect from you comes directly from you.  At OII, the information that you share with us is used to contact you and provide you with the services you need.

Please don’t share any confidential or personal information with us unless we request it from you.  We want to make sure anything confidential goes through the correct channels to keep it protected.

Introduction

Thank you for visiting our website and reviewing our Privacy Notice. OII is dedicated to privacy practices for safeguarding confidential information. OII has adopted privacy principles that guide the actions taken by the agency when collecting and using confidential information. This statement is part of those principles as we want you to know what data we collect and why, security of and access to that data that may be obtained through use of our website. We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website and users and providing you transparent insights with respect to the data we collect and how we may use or share that data. Lastly, we want to ensure you fully understand your rights with respect to accessing this data.

Information collected and how it is used

Information collected on this site depends on how you are engaging with us. We have set out categories below that account for the typical ways our users would engage with OII.  

If you voluntarily choose to provide us with information, we may use that information to contact you, respond to your message, or provide you the information or services you requested. In order to serve you better, we may analyze multiple sources of data you have provided (for example, to look up whether you previously contacted us about the same topic so that we do not send you a duplicative response).  We may use this information ("contact data") to enable us to get in touch with you. The contact data may include your name, email address, telephone number or chat identifier that you are providing to us. We use the contact data you provide to respond appropriately, which could mean responding directly to you, addressing issues you may identify, improving our website, or forwarding the email to another agency for appropriate action. 

We may use the information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us ("communication data”), which is the content you provide to us in your correspondence, emails, responses to surveys, or chats. We collect this information for the purposes of managing our relationship with you, providing you with the services you need, and communicating with you. If you would like to opt-out from receiving communications from us, please see the section below.  

We may use data about your use of our website and services ("usage data") that is collected automatically. The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The source of the usage data is our analytics tracking system. The purpose for collecting usage data is to improve the content of our web services and help us understand how people are using our services. OII analyzes this information to determine how our website is being used, so that we may continually improve the site's usefulness to the public. 

Data retention 

The records retention schedules published by the State Archives require us to keep information based on retention timeframes and business need, and then destroy it. These schedules are different based on the type of record and can change from time to time. 

Personal information and choice

You choose whether to provide contact or communication data to us. If you choose to give us information, do not give us any personal information, such as your social security number, or date of birth in your communication data. 

We are especially concerned about protecting children's privacy.  The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) governs information gathered online from or about children under the age of 13. Under COPPA, a website must get parental permission before collecting personally identifiable information about a child under the age of 13. Our site is not directed to collect information, nor do we anticipate collecting any information from children under the age of 13. If you are under 13, please have your parent(s) or guardian assist you with your inquiry. If you believe that we have received information from or about children under age 13, please contact us. 

Public access to information

In the State of Washington, laws exist to ensure that government is open, and the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by State Government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public’s right to access public records that serve various needs, including the privacy of individuals.

Exceptions are provided by both state and federal laws. 

Information collected at this site may be considered public information and may be subject to inspection and copying by members of the public. For example, the Public Records Act states that: 

Each agency, in accordance with published rules, shall make available for public inspection and copying all public records, unless the record falls within the specific exemptions of subsection (6) of this section [RCW 42.56.070(6)], Chapter 42.56 RCW, or other statute which exempts or prohibits disclosure of specific information or records. To the extent required to prevent an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy interests protected by Chapter 42.56 RCW, an agency shall delete identifying details in a manner consistent with Chapter 42.56 RCW when it makes available or publishes any public record; however, in each case, the justification for the deletion shall be explained fully in writing. 

In the event of a conflict between this Privacy Policy and the Public Records Act or other law governing the agency’s disclosure of records, the Public Records Act or other applicable law will control.

Your right to review and correct personally identifiable information

State law requires agencies that collect personally identifiable information to provide “procedures for correcting inaccurate information, including establishing mechanisms for individuals to review information about them and recommend changes in information they believe to be inaccurate.” (RCW 43.105.310)

You can access any personally identifiable information we collect about you by using the information in the Contact Information section at the end of this Notice. You may correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information by submitting an email or written request that credibly shows the error. We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.  

Web data collection

The Office of Independent Investigations (OII) may use data about your use of our website and services ("usage data") that is collected automatically. The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency, and pattern of your service use.

The source of the usage data is our analytics tracking system. The purpose for collecting usage data is to improve the content of our web services and help us understand how people are using our services. OII may analyze this information to determine how our website is being used so that we may continually improve the site's usefulness to the public.  

Cookies

Our site uses cookies to help you have a better experience interacting with our website. A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

Cookies may be either "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: A persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiration date, unless deleted by the user before the date. A session cookie will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed. Our site uses both. 

Cookies may not contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal data that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies. 

We use cookies for the following purposes:

  • Authentication and status to identify you when you visit and as you navigate our website, and to help us determine if you are logged into our website.
  • Personalization to store information about your preferences and to personalize our website for you.
  • Security to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our website and services generally.
  • Analysis to analyze the use and performance of our website and services.

Our service providers use cookies which may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.

Google analytics and cookies

We use Google Analytics, which gathers information about the use of our website by means of cookies. The information gathered is used to create reports about the use of our website.

You can find out more about Google's use of information by visiting Google Privacy and Terms webpage and you can review Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

Managing cookies

Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. 

You can opt-out of these technologies for advertising by visiting AboutAds.info/choices. See below for information about opting-out from email communications.

Blocking all cookies may have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites, including the ability to use all of the features on our website.