Michael Dreslinski v. Norwood, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20180438)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords April 17, 2018 SPRlS/438 Lieutenant Christopher Padden Norwood Police Department 137 Nahatan Street Norwood, MA 02062 Dear Lieutenant Padden: I have received the petition of Michael Dreslinski appealing the response of the Norwood Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Dreslinski requested vendor invoices and paint and lettering specifications/instructions related to a recently purchased Department vehicle. The Department responded to Mr. Dreslinski's request by providing the vendor invoice and advised Mr. Dreslinski the paint and lettering specifications/instructions did not exist. Mr. Dreslinski appealed to this office stating he believed specifications/instructions must exist. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of the Public Records Division staff, the Department confirmed the requested paint and lettering specifications/instructions do not exist. 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 of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10 ( a)(ii). Accordingly, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, ~y~ Supervisor of Records cc: Michael Dreslinski 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