Andrew Quemere v. Braintree, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20201668)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 24, 2020 SPR20/1668 Lt. Kevin Ware Braintree Police Department 282 Union Street Braintree, MA 02184 Dear Lt. Ware: I have received the petition of Andrew Quemere appealing the response of the Braintree 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 several categories of records pertaining to use-of-force incidents. The Department responded on September 11, 2020, seeking additional time to respond to Mr. Quemere’s request. Unsatisfied with the Department’s response, Mr. Quemere petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR20/1668, was opened as a result. Current Appeal In its September 11th response, the Department states that the “[r]esponse due date has been extended from 09/25/2020 to 10/16/2020.” The Department provided a supplemental response on September 22, 2020 indicating that it intends to provide records responsive to the request, and stating that it “requires additional time beyond the (10) ten business days allotted under the law in order to respond to this request.” The Department states it “will produce the requested records within the following (15) business days following the initial receipt of your request….” Please note that G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi) permits a municipality to “identify a reasonable timeframe in which the…municipality shall produce the public records sought; provided…for a municipality the timeframe shall not exceed 25 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records…..” 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

Lt. Kevin Ware SPR20/1668 Page 2 September 24, 2020 Conclusion Accordingly, whereas the Department has indicated that it intends to provide a response including responsive records, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. This response must be provided within twenty-five business days of the initial receipt of the request. A copy of the Department’s 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. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the Department’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Andrew Quemere