Andrew Quemere v. Fall River Police Department (SPR 20191110)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records June 18, 2019 SPR19/1110 Detective John Robinson Press Information Officer Fall River Police Department Office of Professional Standards P.O.Box 509 Fall River, MA 02722-0509 Dear Detective Robinson: I have received the petition of Andrew Quemere appealing the response of the City of Fall River 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. Quemere sent an email on May 5, 2019 to the Department requesting drug records. The Department provided a response to Mr. Quemere on May 23, 2019 and a fee estimate on June 4, 2019. Mr. Quemere appealed the Department's fee estimate to this office stating the "Fall River Police Department continues to assert that I must pay a fee before it will provide the records I have requested even though the department failed to respond within 10 business days." Fee estimates If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(b) (a records access officer (RAO) shall provide written, itemized, good faith estimate). Once fees are paid, an RAO must provide the responsive records. A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10( d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for black and white copies for both single and double-sided copies of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first two hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may 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

Detective John Robinson SPR19/1110 Page2 June 18, 2019 include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). An RAO may not charge a fee unless the RAO provides a written response in 10 business days following the receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). G. L. c. 66, § 10(e ). An RAO may suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(vii). Appeal The Department may not be permitted to charge fees associated with the records request if the Department did not provide a response to this request in compliance with the provisions of the Public Records Law. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(e); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2)(c). It is uncertain whether the Department complied with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c) when responding to Mr. Quemere's public records request on May 5th. Therefore, I find the Department must demonstrate whether it responded to the records request within ten business days following receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)( C ). Order Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Quemere with response in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 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: Andrew Quemere