Claudia Leis Bolgen, Esq. v. Malden, City of - Police Department (SPR 20201534)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 15, 2020 SPR20/1534 Lieutenant Ryan Fortier City of Malden Police Department 800 Eastern Avenue Malden, MA 02148 Dear Lieutenant Fortier: I have received the petition of Claudia Leis Bolgen, Esq. of Bolgen & Bolgen appealing the response of the City of Malden Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, in an August 11, 2020 email at 6:10 PM, Attorney Bolgen requested: “…incident reports set forth below my signature. In addition, I would like the following daily call logs from June 22, 2017 through June 26, 2017.” Email response and exchanges between the parties By email on August 27, 2020 at 2:13 PM, the Department provided Attorney Bolgen with the daily call logs. In response, on August 27th at 3:21 PM, Attorney Bolgen inquired about the remaining documents in her August 11, 2020 request for 49 incident reports, and when those records could be provided to her. The Department’s email at 3:26 PM asked, “[w]hat wasn’t addressed? What are you looking for?” It is my understanding that on August 27th Attorney Bolgen provided the list of the 49 incident reports she is seeking. On August 31, 2020, after not receiving the 49 incident reports, Attorney Bolgen petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. Attorney Bolgen states, “[i]n the past, [the Department] has promptly provided incident reports to me via email request.” This office encourages the parties to communicate to facilitate providing Attorney Bolgen with the records she seeks. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (an agency or municipality shall 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). 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

Lieutenant Ryan Fortier SPR20/1534 Page 2 September 15, 2020 Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Attorney Bolgen with a response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (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: Claudia Leis Bolgen, Esq., Bolgen & Bolgen