Andrew Quemere v. Taunton, City of - Police Department (SPR 20201790)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records October 7, 2020 SPR20/1790 Lt. Eric P. Nichols Records Access Officer Taunton Police Department 23 Summer Street Taunton, MA 02780 Dear Lt. Nichols: I have received the petition of Andrew Quemere appealing the response of the Taunton 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 Department use-of-force incidents. The Department responded on August 27, 2020, producing responsive records. Unsatisfied with the Department’s response, Mr. Quemere petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR20/1790, was opened as a result. Current Appeal In his appeal petition, Mr. Quemere states that “many of the documents were provided as scans that lack functions of the original records, such as searchable text.” In a September 23, 2020 email, the Department states that it “do[es] not maintain the records in a searchable format.” Please be advised that 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) (emphasis added). Therefore, despite the Department’s explanation, I find it has not met its burden in responding to this request. Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide a response to Mr. Quemere, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten 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. Eric Nichols SPR20/1790 Page 2 October 7, 2020 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