Andrew Quemere v. Lowell, City of - Law Department (SPR 20201633)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 23, 2020 SPR20/1633 Celine Gettings Litigation Assistant City of Lowell Law Department 375 Merrimack Street, 3rd Floor Lowell, MA 01852 Dear Ms. Gettings: I have received the petition of Andrew Quemere appealing the response of the City of Lowell (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Quemere made three (3) requests to the City, for records in electronic format with a waiver of fees, specifically: On August 17, 2020, he requested: logs of all public records requests submitted to the [City] between 2016 and the present; if separate logs are kept for different [City] departments, please provide all of them; On August 24, 2020, he requested records pertaining to the Department’s use-of-force, including current policies; blank forms to report use-of-force incidents; Division-wide and Department-wide use-of-force reports/audits from 2010 to the present; all data on the number of use-of-force incidents for the years 2010 to the present; and all data on the total number of use-of-force incidents involving each [D]epartment employee. On August 25, 2020, he requested: policies/procedures/guidelines/training records related to the Department’s internal affairs investigations; all Division-wide and Department- wide reports/audits of the Department’s internal affairs investigations from 2010 to the present; all annual data on the number of complaints and internal affairs investigations for the years 2010 to the present; all data on the total number of complaints against each Department employee. The City responded to Mr. Quemere on September 9, 2020, “[t]he City Solicitor is not a Records Access Officer [RAO]. The City typically receives requests through our website at http://www.lowellma.gov/965/Public-Records where you can choose a specific department to answer your request. The [RAO] for that department will receive an email notice of your 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

Celine Gettings SPR20/1633 Page 2 September 23, 2020 request.” You further explained that the Legal Department will answer Mr. Quemere’s request for lawsuits filed against the Police Department, but Mr. Quemere will need to re-submit his requests to the proper department. As a result of the Legal Department’s September 9th response, Mr. Quemere petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. In his petition to the Supervisor, Mr. Quemere objects to the Legal Department’s statement that the City Solicitor is not an RAO and that it will not respond to his requests, requiring him to resubmit his requests through the City’s public records portal/website. The City’s Legal Department is advised, “[a] request for public records may be delivered to the [RAO] by hand or via first class mail at the record officer’s business address, or via electronic mail to the address posted by the ….municipality that the [RAO] serves.” See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(iii). Therefore, the Department may not require that a requestor use a particular form or method of requesting records of the Department. It is also unclear why the Legal Department could not have forwarded Mr. Quemere’s request to the correct department to respond to his requests. 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. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Andrew Quemere