Todd Wallack v. Executive Office of Public Safety and Security - Department of State Police (SPR 20160978)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A Williams Supervisor of Records November 10,2016 SPR16/978 Sean W. Farrell, Esq. Department of State Police 470 Worcester Road Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Attorney Farrell: I have received the petition of Todd Wallack of The Boston Globe appealing the response of the Department of State Police (Department) to his request for a public record. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Wallack requested a copy of the daily police log for October 17, 2016. The Department provided Mr. Wallack with the record, but redacted the name of the individual who was arrested. Mr. Wallack appealed. In your response you cite a section of the Massachusetts General Law section related to police logs. See G. L. c. 41, § 98F. You further cited a statute applicable to the redacted record. See G. L. c. 123, § 35; G. L. c. 4, § 7 (26) (a). In his petition Mr. Wallack objected, indicating the police log statute limits information that is permitted for redaction. In a prior determination I found the police log statute cited in your response does not apply to records of the Department. See SPR15/431 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (July 20, 2015). In light ofthis, in a November 10, 2016 telephone conversation I suggested a revised response by the Department would be beneficial. Accordingly, I will consider this appeal closed with the proviso that a revised response is sent by the Department to Mr. Wallack without delay, prepared 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 re .state.ma.us cc: Todd Wallack One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us