Friedrich Lu v. Boston, City of - Public Records (SPR 20202478)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records December 29, 2020 SPR20/2478 Shawn A. Williams, Esq. Director Public Records/Records Access Officer City of Boston One City Hall Square Boston, MA 02201 Dear Attorney Williams: I have received the petition of Friedrich Lu appealing the response of the City of Boston 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 September 8, 2020, Mr. Lu requested: • Names of Boston police officers with [identified badge numbers]; • Name and telephone number of the property owner(s) who made the complaints (possibly there were more than one [on September 8, 2020]; and • Name(s) or telephone number(s) PLUS dates and time, since July 1, 2018…who made the complaints to either CEP, Department of Public Works, Police Department of the [City], or 311, about [Mr. Lu] in the Private Alley 546. On September 11, 2020, the Department provided Mr. Lu with the information responsive to his Request Number 1. Martha DeMaio at the Department also informed Mr. Lu, “I am in the process of determining, what if any records that we have responsive to the remainder of your request.” On September 14, 2020, Ms. DeMaio informed Mr. Lu the call could not be located using the information provided and sought further clarification. Mr Lu responded but was unable to provide a specific address from which the call may have been placed. Please be aware that the request must reasonably describe the records sought. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i). In a recent case, the Superior court found that under the Public Records Law “[t]he reasonable description requirement contemplates that a requesting party will identify documents or categories of documents with sufficient particularity that government employees will be able to understand exactly what they are looking for, and then make a prompt production.” See Jaideep Chawla v. Dept of Revenue, Suffolk. Sup. No. l 784CV02087, at 2 (January 23, 2019). 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

Shawn A. Williams, Esq. SPR20/2478 Page 2 December 29, 2020 Conclusion I encourage the parties to communicate further to enable the Department to provide the records Mr. Lu seeks. If outstanding issues remain, Mr. Lu may file a further appeal. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Friedrich Lu Martha DeMaio, Boston Police Department