Allen Wyman v. Executive Office of Public Safety and Security - Department of State Police (SPR 20160192)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords March 25, 2016 SPR16/192 Mr. Michael Halpin, Esq. Chief Legal Counsel Department of State Police Office of the Chief Legal Counsel 470 Worcester Road Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Attorney Halpin: I have received the petition of Allen Wyman appealing the non-response of the Department of State Police (Department) to his February 3, 2016 request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Wyman requested a copy records associated with a complaint filed against him on or around 2013. Having received no response, Mr. Wyman petitioned this office. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (10) days of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (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. I :fi,nd the Department has failed to respond to a request for public records. Accordingly, the Department is hereby ordered, within ten (10) days ofthis order, to provide Mr. Wyman with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. If the Department maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (1 0) days provide to Mr. Wyman a written explanation, with specificity, how a particular exemption applies to each record. To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. 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@sec.state.ma.us. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Mr. Michael Halpin, Esq. SPR16/192 Page 2 March 25, 2016 If there are any fees associated with this response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (a); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2) (where cost of complying with a request for public records is expected to exceed ten dollars ($1 0. 00), custodian of records shall provide written good faith estimate). Once the fees are paid, you must provide the responsive records. To assist the Department in responding to requests for public records I advise a review of 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 and other members of my staff are available during regular business hours to answer general questions regarding the Public Records Law. In addition, members of my staffwill 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 nu ber provided in this determination for further information. cc: Mr. Allen Wyman