Sarika Ram v. Medford, City of - Police Department (SPR 20181196)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords August 23, 2018 SPRlS/1196; SPRlS/1197; SPRlS/1198; SPRlS/1200; SPRlS/1201; SPRlS/1202; SPRlS/1203; SPRlS/1211; SPRlS/1212; SPRlS/1213 Officer Eleanor Whalen Record Access Officer Medford Police Records Department 100 Main Street Medford, MA 0215 5 Dear Officer Whalen: I have received the petition of Sarika Ram of MuckRock News appealing the nomesponse of the Medford Police Department (Department) to requests for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, various individuals associated withMuckRock News submitted several requests to the Department on July 19, 2018. These requests and their corresponding appeal numbers are as follows: 1) any contracts or memorandums of understanding between the Department and Geofeedia LLC or any other social media surveillance software companies (SPRl 8/1196); 2) documents concerning ISMI catchers (SPRl 8/1197); 3) emails from, to, and mentioning Stephen LeBert (SPR18/1198); 4) a 911 call detail record for specified dates (SPR18/1200); 5) documents related to the use of aerial drones (SPR18/1201); 6) records related to police weapons (SPR18/1202); 7) any memorandums of understanding (MOUs) or memorandums of agreement (MOAs) between the Department and campus police departments (SPR18/1203); 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

Officer Eleanor Whalen SPR18/1196; SPR18/1197; SPR18/1198; Page 2 SPRl 8/1200; SPRl 8/1201; SPRl 8/1202; August 23, 2018 SPR18/1203; SPR18/1211; SPR18/1212; SPR18/1213 8) documents related to security presence in public schools (SPRI 8/1211); 9) records related to police inventory lists (SPR18/1212); 10) the Department's log of public records requests (SPR18/1213). Having yet to receive responses to these requests, Sarika Ram petitioned this office. 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. I understand that subsequent to the intervention by members of the Public Records Division, the Department provided responses on August 15, 2018 for the following requests/appeals: SPR18/1196; SPR18/1197; SPR18/1200; SPR18/1201; and SPR18/1203. Whereas these appeals were opened based upon the Department's lack of written responses to the requests, I will now consider these appeals closed. Sarika Ram may appeal the substantive nature of the Department's responses within 90 days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). However, it remains unclear if the Department has responded to the following requests/appeals: SPR18/1198; SPR18/1202; SPR18/1211; SPR18/1212; and SPR18/1213. Accordingly, the Department is ordered to review the requests that remain at issue and provide written responses to Sarika Ram, made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within 10 business days. A copy of any such responses must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send electronic copies of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Sarika Ram