Morin, Karen v. Natick, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20140660)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the. Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A Williams Supervisor ofR ecords December 17, 2014 SPR14/660 Lieutenant Leo Fitzpatrick Town ofNatick Police Department 20 East Central Street Natick MA, 01760 Dear Lieutenant Fitzpatrick: I have received the petition of Karen Morin appealing the response of Town ofNatick Police Department (Department) to her request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Ms. Morin requested copies of records related to an accident that was reported to the Department on August 22, 2014. In a response dated October 2, 2014 the Department provided what it described as a sanitized version of the responsive records, claiming that the withheld information is exempt from disclosure pursuant to Exemption (c), the privacy exemption to the Public Records Law. The Department's response merely recites the exemption without any further explanation as to its applicability to the withheld information. The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); 950 C.M.R. 32.08(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10 ( c); see also District Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). The Public Records Law states that "the burden shall be upon the custodian to prove with specificity the exemption which applies." G. L. c. 66, § lO(c) (emphasis added). See also Globe Newspaper Co. v. Police Comm'r, 419 Mass. 852, 857 (1995); see also District Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995). The response by the Department did not contain the specificity required in a denial of access to public records. Accordingly, the Department is advised that to comply with the Public Records Law and Regulations it must provide specificity with respect to any denial of access to public records. This requires a records custodian to not only cite an exemption, but to specifically explain the applicability of the exemption to the requested records. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma.us/pre

Lieutenant Leo Fitzpatrick SPR14/660 December 17, 2014 Page Two Accordingly, the Department is hereby ordered, within ten (1 0) day ofthis order, to provide Ms. Morin with the requested records. If the Department maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must provide to Ms. Morin a written explanation, with specificity, how a particular exemption applies to each record. a Supervisor of Records cc: Ms. Karen Morin