Dreslinski, Michael v. West Boylston, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20150339)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords August 13, 2015 SPRlS/339 Chief Dennis Minnich Town of West Boylston-Police Department 39 Worcester Street West Boylston, MA 01583 Dear Chief Minnich: I have received the petition of Michael Dreslinski appealing the response of Town of West Boylston Police Department (Department) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1 O(b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Mr. Dreslinski has submitted two (2) requests to the Department. He has appealed responses to both requests; whereas the results ofboth appeals are substantially similar I have combined both appeals into this one administrative order. In the first request, dated January 16, 2015, Mr. Dreslinski requested two categories of records: (1) his Department "Rap Sheet," and (2) all other records that reference his name. Having received no response to the first request Mr. Dreslinski petitioned this office. A response was subsequently provided to Mr. Dreslinski, dated March 5, 2015 and Mr. Dreslinski's appeal was closed. See SPR15/119 Determination ofthe Supervisor of Records (March 24, 2015). The March 5 response included a fee estimate and Mr. Dreslinski appealed that estimate and as a result my office opened the present appeal. Subsequent to the opening of this appeal the Department revised the fee estimate, dated May 26, 2015. In his second request, dated May 20, 2015, Mr. Dreslinski requested copies of three specific department records (1) 04-18-2007 #156761 Police Info.-West Boylston, (2) 06-05- 2007 #158584 Past Larceny DCR Equipment, and (3) 06-20-2007 #159174 Police Information. In this request Mr. Dreslinski advised that this request "is separate and distinct from any other public records requests [he had] submitted to the [Department]." It appears the Department has not yet responded to the May 20 request; however, in a letter dated June 4, 2015 appealed, most likely upon his receipt of the May 26 revised fee estimate associated with the January 16 request. Mr. Dreslinski has filed dozens of public records appeals with this office. In many instances it appears the records custodian had not received a copy of the request until it was provided by this office to that custodian. Mr. Dreslinski is advised that he must send requests for public records to the custodian directly, and may only appeal to this office for nomesponse after ten (1 0) days. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b ); 950 o~/.f&~Jr~o~Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108. (617) 727-2832. Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Chief Dennis Minnich SPR15/339 Page Two August 13,2015 Request for Fee Waiver In his May 20 request Mr. Dreslinski requested that the Department waive any fees associated with his request for public records. The Public Records Access Regulations (Regulations) encourage records custodians to waive fees when such a waiver is in the public interest; however, this office may not compel a records custodian to do so. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06. Accordingly, the Department is not required to waive fees, so long as written estimates for fees are provided in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Regulations. Fees for Police Department Records Absent specific statutory authority to the contrary, the fees to be charged for complying with requests for public records are established by the Regulations. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06. The following fees shall apply to any public record in the custody of any municipal police department .......... for preparing and mailing crime, incident or miscellaneous reports, one dollar per page; for furnishing any public record, in hand, to a person requesting such records, fifty cents per page. A page shall be defined as one side of an eight and one-half inch by eleven inch sheet of paper. G. L. c. 66 §lO(a). The Department provided Mr. Dreslinski with fee estimates dated July 6, 2015 for his January 16th and May 20th requests. I find the July fee estimates to be in compliance with G. L. c. 66 § 10 ( a). Once the Department receives payment the responsive records are to be provided in a timely manner. This appeal is closed. Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Michael Dreslinski