Jamie Truman v. Agawam, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20200385)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray SuperVisor ofR ecords March 9, 2020 SPR20/0385 Chief Eric P. Gillis Agawam Police Depatiment 681 Springfield Street Feeding Hills, MA 01030 Dear Chief Gillis: I have received the petition of Jamie Truman appealing the nonresponse of the Town of Agawam Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, on January 13, 2020, the requester sought a "[l]ist of all accounts blocked by any official Agawam Police Depaitment social media including but not limited to the Agawam Police Deprutment Twitter account (@AgawamPD) and the Agawam Police Department Facebook page." The 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, § 1O (b )(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); also Dist. ~=~=~ 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. Conclusion Subsequent to the intervention by a staff member of the Public Records Division, I learned that the Department provided records responsive to this request. In an email dated March 9, 2020 Town Solicitor, Stephen Buoniconti, states "below please find the Twitter accounts blocked by the Agawam Police Department." 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

SPR20/0385 Chief Eric P. Gillis Page2 March 9, 2020 In light of Solicitor Buoniconti's March 9th email, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the Department's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~r~ Supervisor of Records cc: Jamie Truman Stephen Buoniconti, Esq.