Tate Herbert v. Executive Office of Public Safety and Security - Department of State Police (SPR 20160063)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords February 24, 2016 SPR16/063 Mr. Sean W. Farrell, Esq. Deputy Chief Legal Counsel Massachusetts State Police General Headquarters 470 Worcester Road Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Attorney Farrell: I have received the petition of Tate Herbert of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism appealing the response of the Department of State Police (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, in a request dated August 6, 2015, Florence Graves, also ofthe Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, requested copies of records related to the conviction of a specifically identified person. The Department provided multiple responses in which it provided certain responsive records and withheld portions of others. In a petition dated January 21, 2016, Ms. Graves and Ms. Herbert appealed to this office on the basis that the responses were "delayed, incomplete, and heavily redacted without proper justification." Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (1 0) days of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b); 950 C.M.R. 32.05. The response may be an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. The Department is advised that all records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. 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). One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma.us/pre

Mr. Sean W. Farrell, Esq. SPR16/063 Page 2 February 24, 2016 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 Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, an attorney on my staff provided you a copy of the January 21 appeal petition and you informed him the Department would provide a response to this petition. Conclusion Accordingly, whereas the Department has indicated it will provide an additional response to a request for pubic records, I will consider this appeal closed with the proviso that the Department provides this response to the requesters within ten (10) days. This response must be provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre(msec.state.ma.us. To assist the Department in responding to requests for public records I refer you to our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is available on the Internet, free of charge, at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Attorneys on my staff are available during regular business hours to answer general questions regarding the Public Records Law. In addition, members of my staff will visit a records custodian in person to conduct training workshops on the Public Records Law upon request. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number provided in this determination for further information. cc: Ms. Tate Herbert Ms. Florence Graves