Donovan Lee v. Holyoke, City of - Police Department (SPR 20230691)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records April 20, 2023 SPR23/0691 Officer P. Alicea Holyoke Police Department Records Bureau 138 Appleton Street Holyoke, MA 01040 Dear Officer Alicea: I have received the petition of Donovan Lee appealing the response of the Holyoke Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On March 28, 2023, Mr. Lee requested: [1] Any and all weapons inventory lists maintained by the [D]epartment, to include all less Lethal weapons, that are owned or authorized by the [D]epartment; and [2] Any and all logs of each officer’s qualifications and re-qualifications with firearms or less lethal weapons. On April 4, 2023, the Department provided a response. Unsatisfied with the Department’s response, Mr. Lee petitioned the Supervisor of Records and this appeal was opened. 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 agency or municipality 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. Att’y for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of 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

Officer P. Alicea SPR23/0691 Page 2 April 20, 2023 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. The Department’s April 4th response In its April 4, 2023 response, the Department stated, “[y]ou was sent a gov transfer robot email. It is not junk mail it is a portal that we use to send records request. You would need to register so that you can get the requested documents…” Current appeal In his petition, Mr. Lee asserted, “[a]fter submitting my request to the [D]epartment I received a response from [O]ff. P. Alicea stating I would need to sign up for a third party website to have my request fulfilled. I was also sent an invitation from the third party website to sign up with their service. I am making this appeal because I believe according to MA [P]ublic [R]ecords [L]aw the documents need to be provided to me without having to use a third party company. The [L]aw states public records requests can be made via email as I have done. I would like to be provided the documents I request by email…” Format of the Request The Department is advised, pursuant to 950 C.M.R. 32.06, “requests for public records may be made orally in person to a records access officer or custodian or may be written. . . . [W]ritten requests may be delivered by a requester to the business address or designated website or email address of a records access officer or custodian: 1. by hand; 2. by mail; 3. by electronic mail; or 4. by facsimile, if custodian has facsimile access.” See 950 C.M.R. 32.06(a), (c). Consequently, where Mr. Lee submitted his request via electronic mail on March 28, 2023, it is unclear why the Department required that he submit his request through the Department’s web portal before producing responsive records. To the extent that the requested records exist, I find the Department must provide them in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law or identify an exemption that applies to withhold the records from disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b). Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Lee with a response to his request in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten (10) business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of the response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us.

Officer P. Alicea SPR23/0691 Page 3 April 20, 2023 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Donovan Lee