David Pietro v. Sandwich, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20161180)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor of Records December 16, 2016 SPR16/1180 David Pietro Dear Mr. Pietro: I have received your petition appealing the response of your public records request made by the Sandwich Police Department (Department). In your petition you ask this office to "provide a copy of the Police report for the above ...." You also provided a copy of the Department's letter dated November 14, 2016 in which it denied access to the record under G. L. c. 41, §97D as it operates through Exemption (a) of the Public Records Law. First, it should be noted that this office is statutorily charged with determining the public records status of government records. It is not a warehouse for all government records; therefore, this office does not have custody of any records responsive to your request. This office is the custodian of records solely related to the operation of the Public Records Division. Second, the requirements for an appeal are as follows: Such appeal shall be in writing, shall include a copy of the original request, and shall include a copy of the letter by which the custodian made a response. The supervisor shall accept an appeal only from a person who has made his or her request in writing. An oral request, while valid as a public records request pursuant to 950 CMR 32.05 (3), may not be the basis of an appeal under 950 CMR 32.08. Given that a copy of the original request to the Department was not included, we are unable to assist you in this appeal at this time. Please feel free to re-submit your appeal when you have retrieved copies of all the required documents. Supervisor of Records cc: Lt. Jason Keene 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