Igor Greenwald v. Pittsfield, City of - Police Department (SPR 20182005)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords December 21, 2018 SPRlS/2005 Ms. Kerri Striebel Records Clerk Pittsfield Police Department 3 9 Allen Street Pittsfield, MA 01201 Dear Ms. Striebel: I have received the petition from Igor Greenwald appealing the response from the City of Pittsfield's Police Department (Department) regarding a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Originally, Mr. Greenwald sent a public records request to the Department on September 4, 2018 seeking "all internal investigation records since 2012." The Department provided a response to Mr. Greenwald. Subsequently, Mr. Greenwald submitted a narrowed request for internal investigation records since the beginning of last year. Mr. Greenwald requested an appeal to our office via email on December 10, 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, § 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). 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, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based." G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(iv). Any non-exempt, segregable portion of a public record is subject to mandatory 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

Ms. Kerri Striebel SPR18/2005 Page 2 December 21, 2018 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 Mr. Greenwald requested"[o ]fficers' reports, witness interview summaries and concluding reports from all internal affairs investigations completed by the Pittsfield Police Department since Jan. 1, 2017, along with any other public records relevant to these investigations" from the Department. 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, § 1O (b )(iv) ( custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to review the request made by the Mr. Greenwald 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: Igor Greenwald