September 21, 2026: Seven Seconds to an Answer, Written by a Machine

Exhibit · Georgia POST · Sent and received

I agreed to pay. Seven seconds later the agency answered. A machine wrote it.

What it is

An email to the open records officer of the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, Georgia POST, on September 21, 2026 at 7:27 AM Eastern. It authorizes payment for one item, asks that a second be held open without being searched, and asks for three documents the agency’s own produced records refer to. Seven seconds later an automatic reply came back.

Why it matters

The reply is dated 7:27:49 AM. My message is dated 7:27:42 AM. Nobody read anything in seven seconds, and the message itself says so. Its headers carry Precedence: bulk, X-Autoreply: yes and Auto-Submitted: auto-replied.

The same three headers appear on the acknowledgment sent on August 26, 2026 and on the one sent on September 9, 2026. The September 9 one answered a litigation hold and evidence preservation notice, a document that states in terms that it asks for nothing to be produced. It came back titled “Acknowledgement of ORR”, an open records request, fifty six seconds after it was sent.

The agency’s subject line is spelled two ways in its own messages, “Acknowledgment” on August 26 and “Acknowledgement” on September 9 and 21. Both are reproduced as sent.

Three documents of three kinds went to that address in four weeks: a records request, a preservation notice that asked for nothing to be produced, and a payment authorization. Each came back acknowledged as an open records request, in eight seconds, fifty six seconds and seven seconds. It appears that whatever reaches that address is answered the same way.

What it shows

The whole of the automatic reply, verbatim:

“Thank you for your inquiry. We have received your open records request and will provide a response within the required timeframe.”

That is the entire text. It is the same text each time.

What it does not show

It does not show that anyone at Georgia POST decided anything. No person chose to file a preservation notice as a records request. An automatic reply did it, which is the point. Nothing here is a criticism of the open records officer whose name sits at the bottom of the automatic message. It does not show a response on the merits either. The written confirmation of the litigation hold came on September 22, 2026, the day after this page was first published. Paul Jay Pontrelli, Assistant Attorney General, Georgia Department of Law, wrote in a signed letter that “this Office issued an interim written hold to POST” on September 9, 2026, “the evening POST received your notice”, and that “POST issued a formal written litigation hold on September 10, 2026.” The same letter states that preservation “is not an acknowledgment that any such record exists” and that “POST disputes your claims, and its August 27, 2026 determination stands.”

Transcript, September 21, 2026, 7:27 AM Eastern (verbatim)

“Dear Ms. Dalon:

Thank you for the September 15, 2026 response.

1. Item 4. I agree in writing to pay the estimated cost of Item 4 stated in your letter, five hours at $30.87, or $154.35, less the first quarter hour credit under O.C.G.A. Section 50-18-71(c)(1), for an estimated $146.63. Please proceed with the revision history and upload record for the ADA Title II page, the ADA grievance procedure page, and the ADA complaint form. I understand from your letter that POST will charge only its actual cost, and that POST will write to me with a revised estimate before incurring any additional cost.

2. Item 9. Please hold Item 9 open without beginning the search. Your letter states that POST’s records do not indicate whether a given course or service was federally funded, and that records of how the Georgia Public Safety Training Center and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council fund their programs are held by those agencies. I will ask those agencies first. This is not a withdrawal of Item 9, and I will write to you if I decide to authorize it.

3. Certified assurances. Each of the three subgrant awards produced under Item 1 states that the Council ‘has agreed through the executed copy of certified assurances to be subject to all applicable rules, regulations, and conditions.’ My September 10 request asked only for assurances signed on or after October 27, 2022, and I read your Item 2 answer in that light. I now ask for the executed certified assurances referenced in subgrants K75-8-053, K76-8-042, and K77-8-033, regardless of date, or a written statement that the Council holds no copy. Because the Council has already searched these three subgrant files, I expect this can be answered without a new search. If it requires one, please log this paragraph as a new request under O.C.G.A. Section 50-18-71 and send an estimate before any charge is incurred.

Nothing in this email withdraws, narrows, or modifies the litigation hold and evidence preservation notice served on September 9, 2026, or any request made in my September 10, 2026 grievance correspondence.”

Signature and accessibility block omitted.

Transcript, the automatic reply, 7:27 AM Eastern (verbatim)

“Thank you for your inquiry. We have received your open records request and will provide a response within the required timeframe.”

Updated September 28, 2026: the September 22 confirmation added; the August 26 timing measured from the message headers.

Back to the Georgia POST documents