Xinyun Yu v. Middlesex County Sheriff's Office (SPR 20181632)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records November 20, 2018 SPRlS/1632 Brendan Kennedy Deputy Public Information Officer Middlesex County Sheriffs Office 400 Mystic Avenue, 4th Floor Medford, MA 0215 5 Dear Mr. Kennedy: I have received the petition from Xinyun Yu appealing the response from the Middlesex County Sheriffs Department (Department) regarding a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Originally, the requestor sent a public records request to the Department on September 19, 2018 seeking records pertaining to the role and title of a member of the Department. The Department provided a response letter on September 19, 2018 saying that the requestor may obtain this information from the Director of the Department's Civil Process Division. The requestor made another records request on October 10, 2018 to which the Department provided the requestor with the same September 19th response. The requestor appealed the Department's response to our office via email on November 5, 2018. Public Records Law 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, § lO(b) (iii). When withholding requested records, a records custodian is required to provide a response that identifies "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, 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

Mr. Brendan Kennedy SPR18/1632 Page 2 November 20, 2018 including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based." G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(iv). Any non-exempt, segregable portion of a public record is subject to mandatory disclosure. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a); Reinstein v. Police Comm'r of Boston, 378 Mass. 281, 289- 90 (1979) (the statutory exemptions are narrowly construed and are not blanket in nature). Appeal The Department informed the requestor "[a]s provided in each of your previous requests, the information you are seeking is handled by our Civil Process Division." It is unclear if the Department possesses the responsive records pertaining to the role and title of a member of the Department. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a )(ii), (b )(ii), (iii). 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, § lO(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, § lO(b) (iii). If the records are within the Department's possession and they intend to withhold the documents an exemption must be provided as stated above. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(iv) ( custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to review the requests made by the requestor and provide any requested records 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. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Xinyun Yu