Cora Flynn v. Lowell, City of - Police Department (SPR 20211462)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records June 24, 2021 SPR21/1462 Jacqueline Cook Lowell Police Department 50 Arcand Drive Lowell, MA 01852 Dear Ms. Cook: I have received the petition of Cora Flynn of the Committee for Public Counsel Services appealing the response of the Lowell Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On March 31, 2021, Ms. Flynn requested “[t]he specific address of all motor vehicle stops and traffic citations made by any/all officers of the Lowell Police Department from January 5, 2021 to March 5, 2021.” Following correspondence with the Department, including a cost estimate for the request, on May 12, 2021, Ms. Flynn modified and narrowed her request to “all addresses of citations from April 1, 2021 to April 30, 2021.” Unsatisfied with the Department’s response, Ms. Flynn appealed, and this case was opened as a result. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a 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

Jacqueline Cook SPR21/1462 Page 2 June 24, 2021 custodian must provide the responsive records. Current Appeal In her appeal petition, Ms. Flynn reiterates that she is “requesting only the specific addresses associated with all citations that occurred in April 2021. This information is recorded on the Massachusetts Uniform Citation under ‘Location of Offense’ which includes number, street, highway, city, or town.” In her correspondence with the Department, Ms. Flynn indicates that she is willing to accept the requested information in the form of a spreadsheet, or in copies of the individual citations. The Department’s June 22nd Response In a letter to this office and Ms. Flynn on June 22, 2021, the Department indicated that its records management system software “does not allow for certain information to be extracted at all.” The Department explained that it has “reached out to [the software vendor] to see if they can make adjustments to the current software to make it more data efficient.” The Department further explained that for this request, “each citation would have to be printed, heavily redacted by hand, then rescanned so it could be sent on to Ms. Flynn.” The Department reiterated that it “truly want[s] to fulfill Ms. Flynn’s request.” I note that in previous correspondence with the Department included with her appeal petition, Ms. Flynn expressed a willingness to further narrow the scope of the timeframe for her request. I encourage the Department and Ms. Flynn to continue communicating in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). To the extent feasible, the Department must provide records on a rolling basis. Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Ms. Flynn with a response to her request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten 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.

Jacqueline Cook SPR21/1462 Page 3 June 24, 2021 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Cora Flynn