Seth Kershner v. Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SPR 20180060)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records

January 23, 2018 SPR18/060

Suzanne Travis

Suffolk County Sheriff's Department 200 Nashua Street

Boston, MA 02114

Dear Ms. Travis:

I have received your petition on behalf of the Suffolk County Sheriff?s Department (Department) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66 § 10(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, the Department furnished a copy of this petition to the requester on January 16, 2018.

Specifically, Seth Kershner requested “a spreadsheet showing the annual number of cell extractions executed by Suffolk County House of Correction and the Nashua Street Jail Staff, FY04-05 through FY16-17; annual number of incidents involving staff use of force against inmates, FY04-05 through FY16-17; annual number of incidents involving use of chemical agents by Suffolk County House of Correction and the Nashua Street Jail staff, FY04-05 through FY 16-17; as well as any training manuals, SOPS manuals, use of force guidelines and reports, or other types of documentation relating to the Tactical Response Team.”

Petitions for an extension of time

Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering:

(i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records;

(ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure;

(iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; .

(iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests;

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

Suzanne Travis SPR18/062 Page 2 January 23, 2018

(v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and

(vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure.

G. L. c. 66 § 10(c).

The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b).

Current petition

In your petition dated January 16, 2018 you explain the Department requests “an extension of time to provide public records” because the “records we are awaiting must be searched for, segregated and then examined by myself as well as redacted to prevent unlawful disclosure of CORI protected information.” The Department indicates though the request was submitted on November 21, 2017 “it was inadvertently misdirected” and you were not aware of the request until December 26, 2017. The Department further indicates on December 28, 2017 “General Counsel Allen Forbes obtained partial records [...] and forwarded these records to Mr. Kershner immediately via email.”

On January 23, 2018, Mr. Kershner informed a member of the Public Records Division staff that he agreed to an extension for the Department to respond to his public records request.

Conclusion

In light of the requestor’s agreement, I will not opine on the Department’s petition for an extension of time to furnish responsive records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi) (“the requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond the timeframes set forth herein”). The Department is advised it must provide the records without delay in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the | Department’s response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1).

Sincerely,

Alecco Muna.

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records

cc: Seth Kershner