Petrishen, Brad v. Worcester, City of - Police Department (SPR 20150835)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords December 16, 2015 SPRlS/835 Lieutenant Richard Bates Worcester Police Department Division of Professional Standards 9-11 Lincoln Square Worcester, MA 01608 Dear Lieutenant Bates: I have received the petition of Brad Petrishen of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette appealing the response of City of Worcester Police Department (Department) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32;08(2). Specifically, Mr. Petrishen requested a copy of internal affairs investigation records of a specifically named police officer. The Department provided Mr. Petrishen with a written estimate and Mr. Petrishen appealed. Fees A custodian of records may assess a reasonable fee for complying with a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2). Absent specific statutory authority to the contrary, the fees to be charged for complying with requests for public records are established by the Public Records Access Regulations (Regulations). See 950 C.M.R. 32.06 (fees for public records). The specific statutory authority to the contrary in this instance is found in Section 10 ( a) of Chapter 66 of the Massachusetts General Laws, which states in pertinent part: ... The following fees shall apply to any public record in the custody of the state police, the Massachusetts bay transportation authority police or any municipal police department or fire department: for preparing and mailing a motor vehicle accident report, five dollars for not more than six pages and fifty cents for each additional page; for preparing and mailing a fire insurance report, five dollars for not more than six pages plus fifty cents for each additional page; 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, 10(a) OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/pre

Lieutenant Richard Bates SPR15/835 Page Two December 16, 2015 The statute states that municipal police departments may charge a fee of $1.00 per page "for preparing and mailing" certain reports. Municipal police departments may charge $.50 for copies of records provided "in hand." Whereas the provisions of this section permit a $1.00 fee for preparation of records, a municipal police department is not permitted to assess an additional fee for search and segregation. Further, in his petition Mr. Petrishen stated his willingness to pick up copies of records in the future "in hand," as his office is located within close proximity to the Department. Accordingly, whereas the Department has erred in its preparation of a fee estimate for the provision of municipal police department records, I hereby order the Department to provide a revised fee estimate to Mr. Petrishen, prepared in accordance wit the Public Records Law and this written determination. A copy of any such response must b provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to of i eat pre@sec.state.ma.us. cc: Mr. Brad Petrishen