Ieva Silveria v. Southbridge Police Department (SPR 20202121)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records November 5, 2020 SPR20/2121 Ms. Melissa Palmer Lead Dispatcher Southbridge Police Department 1 Mechanic Street Southbridge, MA 01550 Dear Ms. Palmer: I have received the petition of the Southbridge Police Department (Department) requesting an extension of time to produce records and permission to charge for time spent segregating or redacting responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). The Department is advised it is required by law to furnish a copy of any petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Specifically, Ieva Silveria requested on October 15, 2020 the following records: “Please provide to me the following content from all the incidents, complaints, requests, arrests, etc. brought to the attention of the Southbridge Police Department starting March 17th, 2020 to present, concerning property located at 25 Cohasse, St, Southbridge, MA, 01550” “Audio recording of the calls that requested and prompted police to be dispatched to the above mentioned property( 25 Cohasee Street) or was a call regarding a follow up regarding previous incident.” “Dash cam video and related audio of the patrol vehicle dispatched at the scene, body cam videos and related audio from all police officers present at the scene, arrests, dispatcher logs, incident reports from all the officers, all officers notes, internal memos, related department policies, etc.” Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to 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

Ms. Melissa Palmer SPR20/2121 Page 3 November 5, 2020 considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Conclusion The Department has not met its burden to show it provided a copy of the petition to the requester as required by law. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Accordingly, am unable to grant the Department’s petition for an extension of time to produce the responsive records at this time. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ieva Silveria