Andrew Quemere v. Haverhill, City of - Police Department (SPR 20201706)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 30, 2020 SPR20/1706 Lieutenant Doreen M. Champagne Haverhill Police Department City of Haverhill 40 Bailey Blvd Haverhill, MA 01830 Dear Lt. Champagne: I have received the petition of Andrew Quemere appealing the response of the Haverhill Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on August 24, 2020, Mr. Quemere requested six categories of records, including “[a] blank copy of each form used to report use-of-force incidents.” Previous Appeal The requested records were the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR20/1463 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (September 4, 2020). In my September 4th determination, I found it was unclear whether the Department could produce a redacted version of an existing form or if that would be responsive to Mr. Quemere’s request. The Department provided Mr. Quemere with the redacted form. Unsatisfied with this response, Mr. Quemere petitioned this office, and SPR20/1706 was opened as a result. Current Appeal In his appeal, Mr. Quemere states “I sent a follow-up email to the Haverhill Police Department explaining that searchable text had been removed from provided data and also suggested that it might be possible to export the data in Excel format to avoid having the searchability removed…[m]unicipalities may not ‘close’ requests without providing the requested documents in the preferred format of the requester nor may they require the requester to use an online form.” On September 14, 2020, Mr. Quemere indicated to the Department “it appears that the use-of-force statistics had searchable text that was removed from them. Please provide these records in a format with the searchable text intact.” 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 Doreen M. Champagne SPR20/1706 Page 2 September 30, 2020 On September 17, 2020, the Department provided a supplemental response to this office indicating, “I provided Mr. Quemere with all records that he asked for, in electronic format, without assessing a fee. Upon the suggestion of the Supervisor of Records we created an additional record for Mr. Quemere in order to illustrate how our computer system tracks information…[a]ll records provided to Mr. Quemere were sent as they currently exist. The annual report that Mr. Quemere may be referring to only exists in hard copy, which is exactly what I scanned and sent to him.” Based on Mr. Quemere’s claim, I find the Department must explain whether it provided the “use-of-force statistics” records in a searchable, machine readable format. Pursuant to the Public Records Law, “[t]he records access officer shall, to the extent feasible, provide the public record in the requestor’s preferred format or, in the absence of a preferred format, in a searchable, machine readable format.” See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d). Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Quemere with a response to the request, provided 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