Harris Contos v. Yarmouth, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20160495)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords July 14, 2016 SPR16/495 Mr. Frank G. Fredrickson Chief of Police Town of Yarmouth 21 Bob-0-Link Lane Yarmouth, MA 02673-3803 Dear Chief Fredrickson: I have received the petitions of Contos Harris appealing responses of the Town of Yarmouth Police Department (Department) to his requests for public records. G. L. c. 66 § lO(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Harris requested copies: of citations issued by the Department noise violations regarding motor vehicles; sound making devices; persons and noise from dwellings, boats and other conveyances. In a response dated April 25, 2016 the Department provided Mr. Contos with a fee estimate for the provision of records responsive to his request totaling $175.00. In a letter dated May 4, 2016 the Department informed Mr. Erickson of additional costs regarding his request totaling another $109. 00. Thereupon Mr. Erickson submitted his petition challenging the reasonableness of the fees the Department is charging. Fees for copies ofp ublic records A custodian of records may assess a reasonable fee for complying with a request for public records. 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 ($10.00), custodian ofrecords shall provide written good faith estimate). 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). Municipal police departments may respond to certain requests for public records by providing fee estimates as indicated by statute: ... 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 OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Chief of Police Frank G. Fredrickson SPR16/495 Page 2 July 14, 2016 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, lO(a) The statute states that municipal police departments may charge $.50 for copies of records provided "in hand." Whereas the provisions of this section permit a $.50 fee for furnishing any public record, in hand, to a person requesting such records, a municipal police department is not permitted to assess an additional fee for search and segregation. Order I find the Police Department has failed to provide a fee estimate as indicated by statute. Accordingly, the Police Department is hereby ordered to provide Mr. Harris with a revised response to his request for records. The response by the Department must be prepared in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, its Regulations and other applicable law. 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@Vsece.stratye.mrpa.u;s,. ~A Williams Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Contos Harris