Michael Dreslinski v. Concord, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20180389)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords April 9, 2018 SPRlS/389 Jodi M. Geary Senior Department Clerk- Criminal Investigations Division Concord Police Department 219 Walden Street Concord, MA 01742 Dear Ms. Geary: I have received the petition from Mr. Michael Dreslinski appealing the response from the Concord Police Department (Department) regarding a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Dreslinski had filed a request with the Department on November 29, 2017 for "[a]ll graphic design/lettering instructions, specifications provided to Concord Police Department's emergency vehicle upfitter which identify the font name used to spell "CONCORD" applied to Concord Police vehicles." The Department provided a response to Mr. Dreslinski's request on January 8, 2018 stating "the Concord Police Department has no record of the above requested information on file." Mr. Dreslinski appeals the Department's response believing the records requested are "routinely transmitted to and from the Department as part of a required process for vehicle ordering and final approval/acceptance." Appeal Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten business days ofreceipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. 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, § IO(a)(ii), (b)(ii). Also, the duty to comply with requests for records extends to identifying the agency or municipality that may be in possession, custody, or control of the public record sought, if known. See G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(iii). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(iv) (written response must "identify 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

l\1r. Jodil\1. G-eary SPR18/389 Pg.2 April 9, 2018 any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based ... "); 950 C.1\1.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 l\1ass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). It is unclear whether the Department has additional responsive records based on l\1r. Dreslinski's reference to the vehicle ordering process. Accordingly, the Department is ordered to review the requests made by l\1r. Dreslinski and provide a response to l\1r. Dreslinski, made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within ten business days. 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 pre@sec.state.ma.us. If unresolved issues remain, l\1r. Dreslinski may appeal the substantive nature of the Department's response within ninety days. See 950 C.1\1.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~~ Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. l\1ichael Dreslinski