John Anderson v. Holyoke, City of - Police Department (SPR 20170958)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 24, 2017 SPR17/958 Officer Caron L.Porter Records Access Officer Holyoke Police Department 138 Appleton Street Holyoke, MA 01040 Dear Officer Porter: I have received the petition of John Anderson appealing the response of the Holyoke Police Department (Depmiment) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Mr. Anderson requested records regarding a specifically identified complaint. The Department responded stating it was not in possession, custody or control of the requested records. Mr. Anderson appealed believing that records must exist at the Department. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of the Public Records Division staff, the Department confirmed that no records were in its possession, custody or control. 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). 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 of records at the time ofthe request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii). I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: John Anderson 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