$5-Million Tort Claim Against WSP for Deleting Public Records, Retaliation...

According to a May 3, 2018 report by KUOW and the Tacoma News Tribune: a Washington State Trooper has accused a leader in the State Patrol’s aviation unit of ordering staff to illegally delete public records... Trooper Ryan Santhuff makes the allegations in a $5 million tort claim filed against the state in February. Santhuff contends the alleged incidents and retaliation from supervisors contributed to a "work environment that no reasonable person could tolerate."

Santhuff also accuses [a WSP Lieutenant] of directing troopers to delete public records after a disclosure request was filed related to May Day protests in Olympia, in 2014. "Not only did the Lieutenant direct staff to delete emails, he also instructed them on ways to remove all copies of these emails from hidden folders on the computers and servers, essentially scrubbing the network of relevant documents," the claim states.

The tort claims states Santhuff reported all of these alleged incidents in 2016 and that WSP subsequently "began a campaign of retaliation against Trooper Santhuff" that included implicit threats, exclusion from meetings, ostracization and lies about Santhuff’s job performance.
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According to WA State law:  To be a "public record," a document must relate to the "conduct of government or the performance of any governmental or proprietary function." RCW 42.56.010(3). Almost all records held by an agency relate to the conduct of government.  A "public record" is a record "prepared, owned, used, or retained" by an agency.

Thus it is likely that the e-mail sent and received by WSP in their official accounts are public records, and may not be deleted to prevent disclosure following a public records request.

WSP Trooper Santhuff's claims against the Department will be resolved through the courts, but what I believe is of general interest here is twofold: first that as government employees whatever you send or receive in your official e-mail is likely a public record; and second if Trooper Santhuff's claims are true, government agencies (WSP) are destroying public records to prevent their disclosure under FOIA / Public Records Acts.

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In a related issue, A May 4, 2018 article on Motherboard noted that Gmail's 'Self Destruct' Feature Will Probably Be Used to Illegally Destroy Government Records
“As more local and state governments and their various agencies seek to use Gmail, there is the potential that state public records laws will be circumvented by emails that 'disappear' after a period of time,” the National Freedom of Information Coalition wrote in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. “The public’s fundamental right to transparency and openness by their governments will be compromised.”