Samuel E. Lipson v. Barre, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20170708)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 6, 2017 SPR17/708 Chief John F. Carbone Town of Barre -Police Department 40 West Street Barre, MA 01005 Dear Chief Carbone: I have received the petition of Samuel Lipson of appealing the response of the Town of Barre Police Department (Department) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Mr. Lipson requested copies of records regarding a report of an identified incident. This request was the subject of a previous appeal and determination. See SPRl 7/618 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (May 11, 2017). No duty to create records In a response dated June 6, 2017, the Department stated that "there is no incident report or any other type of report involving Mr. Lipson for said incident..." Under the Public Records Law, the Department is not required to create a record in response to a public records request. See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d ); 32 Op. Atty Gen. 157, 165 (May 18, 1977). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii). Accordingly, I find the Department has satisfied its burden in responding to this request. This administrative appeal is now closed. Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Samuel Lipson 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