Ardil Innis v. Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (SPR 20191598)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords August 22, 2019 SPR19/1598 Agapi Koulouris, Esq. General Counsel Department of Criminal Justice Information Services 200 Arlington Street, Suite 2200 Chelsea, MA 02150 Dear Attorney Koulouris: I have received the petition of Ardil Innis appealing the response of the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ardil Innis requested "the date and time of any inquiry ... " relating to his name through DCJIS by any state agency "in the months of September and October 2010." Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. Previous Appeal This petition is the subject of a previous case. See SPR19/l 461 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (July 23, 2019). I closed SPR19/1461 by ordering DCJIS to provide the requestor with a response in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and the order within ten business days. In a letter dated July 26, 2019 DCJIS provided Mr. Innis 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

Agapi Koulouris, Esq SPR19/1598 Page2 August 22, 2019 a response. Unsatisfied with this response, Mr. Innis petitioned this office and as a result SPR19/1598 was opened. Current Appeal In its July 26th response DCJIS writes, ''[i]nformation contained within an audit of the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) is exempt from public disclosure under the provisions ofM.G.L. c. 4, s. 7 clause 26(a), M.G.L. c. 6, § 172, 28 CFR 20.33 and 18 USC 2721. A CJIS audit contains information that is considered Criminal Offender Record Information, Criminal History Record Information and/or Driver's License or History information that is exempt under the aforementioned statutes. Furthermore, said information may also contain investigatory information exempt from public disclosure under M.G.L. c. 4, s. 7 clause 26(f). Based on this information, the requested records are being withheld from disclosure." DCJIS also provides information about submitting a "Rule 17 motion" to obtain the records. You indicate "[i]fthe court authorizes access to said records, DCJIS will produce the requested information." In his appeal received by this office on August 81h Mr. Innis states, "[t]he records keeper failed to recognize that the records that I seek, pertains to only me, the requestor, and I waive my privacy rights upon reqµesting my own information/self-audit. Secondly, the records keeper invokes exemption (f) without demonstrating any prejudice towards any investigations." Mr. Innis adds, "the requested document is related to a closed case." Subsequent to the opening of this appeal Mr. Innis provided this office a letter received on August 22nd. This letter references a police report that Mr. Innis asserts was previously released to the public. Upon review of the file, I find that the basis of Mr. Innis' appeal is unclear; specifically, whereas his appeal petition only references Exemption (f), it is uncertain whether he objects to the Exemption (a) claim described above. In addition, in light of his letter received August 22nd, it is unclear which record Mr. Innis currently seeks. Further, whereas Mr. Innis indicates that the records at issue pertain to him, it is uncertain whether he objects to DCJIS' reference to the Rule 17 motion described above. Mr. Innis is reminded that all petitions for appeal "shall specifically describe the nature of the requestor's objections to the response or failure to timely respond." 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(f). Accordingly, Mr. Innis must describe his specific objections to the DCJIS' response. Sincerely, ~fffr~-" Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ardil Innis