Daniel D. Jaffe v. Lowell, City of - Police Department (SPR 20220182)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records February 3, 2022 SPR22/0182 Jacqueline Cook Records Access Officer City of Lowell Police Department 50 Arcand Drive Lowell, MA 01852 Dear Ms. Cook: I have received the petition of Daniel D. Jaffe at the Committee for Public Counsel Services appealing the response of the City of Lowell Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Jaffe requested records or information, specifically: “[f]or each officer listed in the attached Microsoft Excel spreadsheet: the unit, division, precinct, and/or barrack assignment for that officer.” On December 28, 2021, the Department provided Mr. Jaffe with an Adobe PDF version of the spreadsheet. As a result of the record received, Mr. Jaffe contacted the Department on December 30th and January 10th to inform the Department that the record received had portions of the text cut off from the version he received. On January 10th, Mr. Jaffe specifically asserts, “…the provided record appears to be a print and re-scan of a spreadsheet (likely Excel), not a native PDF. Please know that form of production is appealable and a requestor is entitled to specify their preferred form of production. I imagine receiving this PDF rather than an Excel file is also why assignments were cut off. Please provide us this record in its native form without the assignment cut off.” When Mr. Jaffe did not receive a response to his January 10th email, he petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. While the Department was notified of Mr. Jaffe’s objection to receipt of the format of the record, and notified that this office opened an administrative appeal of Mr. Jaffe’s request and receipt of the record, the Department has yet to respond to this appeal. Preferred format A records access officer must, to the extent feasible, provide public records to a requestor in electronic format unless the record is not available in electronic form or the requestor does not 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 SPR22/0182 Page 2 February 3, 2022 have the ability to receive or access the records in electronic format and if feasible, in the requestor’s preferred format. In the absence of a preferred format, the records must be provided in a searchable machine-readable form. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5)(d). In light of Mr. Jaffe’s appeal, I find the Department must clarify whether the responsive record can be provided in its native format as Mr. Jaffe requested. I encourage the parties to work together to resolve the issue of the preferred format of the record. Order Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Jaffe with a response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 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, .f). A ~ ~ ~ _ ~0 ,cw«C(}. - .. Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Daniel D. Jaffe, Committee for Public Counsel Services