Andrew Quemere v. Cambridge, City of - Office of the City Solicitor (SPR 20201607)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 22, 2020 SPR20/1607 Seah Levy Public Records Access Officer City of Cambridge Law Department 795 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Dear Ms. Levy: I have received the petition of Andrew Quemere appealing the response of the City of Cambridge (City) Police Department (Department) to a request for public records G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Quemere requested: “[t]he Department’s current use-of-force policies; A blank copy of each form used to report use-of-force incidents (if the form is part of the computer program and is not easily exportable, it is acceptable to provide screenshots); All [D]ivision-wide and [D]epartment-wide use-of-force reports/audits for the years 2010 to the present (by Division-wide and Department-wide), I mean reports/audits that examine use-of-force by an entire Division or the entire Department, not reports/audits about a specific use-of-force incident); All data on the number of use-of-force incidents for the years 2010 to the present [August 24, 2020, date of request]; and All data on the total number of use- of-force incidents involving each Department employee.” In addition, Mr. Quemere asks that the records be provided in electronic format, and that fees be waived, as he believes the request is in the public interest. In a September 8, 2020 response, the City informed Mr. Quemere, “[d]ue to the complexity of searching for the requested documents, as well as necessary redactions pursuant to the [P]ublic [R]ecords [L]aw, the City hereby identifies a reasonable timeframe to respond…of 25 business days from the date of receipt of [Mr. Quemere’s] original request.” As a result, Mr. Quemere petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. In his petition, Mr. Quemere asserts: “…the [C]ity’s response does not meet any of the requirements for a response under the law; it does not identify what records the [C]ity does not possess; identify what records it intends to withhold; identify any exemptions it intends to cite; identify any records it intends to produce; 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

Seah Levy SPR20/1607 Page 2 September 22, 2020 specify when the records will be produced; explain why it will take more than 10 business days to produce the requested records, or include a fee estimate.” On September 22, 2020, a Senior Attorney in the Public Records Division telephoned your office to obtain a status report on when Mr. Quemere can expect a response to his request; however, was unable to connect with you directly. Please be advised, if the City does not intend to permit inspection or furnish a copy of a requested the municipality, the written response must follow the criteria in G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(i-ix). This office encourages the parties to communicate to facilitate providing Mr. Quemere with the records he 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). Conclusion Accordingly, the City is ordered to provide Mr. Quemere 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. Mr. Quemere may appeal the substantive nature of the City’s response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Andrew Quemere