Laura H. Ortiz v. Lowell, City of - Police Department (SPR 20241985)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records July 24, 2024 SPR24/1985 Jacqueline Cook Keeper of Records City of Lowell – Police Department 50 Arcand Drive Lowell, MA 01852 Dear Ms. Cook: I have received the petition of Laura Ortiz appealing the response of the Lowell 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 May 13, 2024, Ms. Ortiz requested: A copy of any… accident/crash scene data statistics or other data or reports related only to four way stop signs or traffic light involved motor vehicle accidents (regardless the electronic format), or the statistical data that can be printed out from your servers. Please exclude all individual motor vehicle accident/crash reports…. Please provide records related to the following …only: [1] Acre; [2] Pawtucket[; and] [3] Highlands. Timeline: 4/29/24 - 5/6/24 and 5/6/24 - 5/13/24…. Previous Appeal The request was the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR24/1572 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (June 6, 2024). In my June 6, 2024 determination, I ordered the Department to clarify if responsive records exist. The Department provided further responses on June 26, 2024. Unsatisfied with the Department’s responses, Ms. Ortiz petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR24/1985, 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 agency or 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 SPR24/1985 Page 2 July 24, 2024 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 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 custodian must provide the responsive records. The Department’s June 26th responses In its initial June 26, 2024 responses, the Department asserted: Please be advised that all of the data you are looking for is publicly available at the website link I provided.... I must reiterate that this website and its dashboards, queries, and data extracts are more robust and contain more data than you would receive from a public records request. Moreover, as I have stated previously, the data is searchable and can be filtered to a wide array of parameters and can be exported or visualized in a manner above and beyond what we can provide. I truly believe that this website and its tool will be extremely helpful to your research efforts. Ms. Ortiz and the Department then had a telephone conversation. Following this conversation, the Department then asserted in a further email communication, “…I’ve attached some statistics related to motor vehicle crashes in the Highlands, Acre, and Pawtucketville during the date ranges you were inquiring about.” The Department also provided a link to state- wide crash data that it explains “would be very helpful to” Ms. Ortiz. Current Appeal In her appeal, Ms. Ortiz stated: I am appealing … failure to produce records that exist, failure to state any applicable exemptions and failure to state amount of withheld responsive records of the records existing…. [The Department provided] one record of 13 tables referred to as “Crash Data”… however it was non responsive to our request given it was the percentage breakdown of the sections/wards of Lowell and not the statistical breakdown (name of street and intersection) of whatever aggregate data the Crime Bureau analyst utilized to compute the percentage. [The Department] failed to provide the segregational portion of the raw data I requested…. Further,

Jacqueline Cook SPR24/1985 Page 3 July 24, 2024 [the Department] asked me to ask the state for records, when [the Department] has the records custodian and all it had to do was print them out from their servers. Records Available on a Public Website Please be advised that it is permissible for the custodian of records to provide access to records via a link to a website. See G. L. c. 66, §6A(d) (“If the public record requested is available on a public website ... the records access officer may furnish the public record by providing reasonable assistance in locating the requested record on the public website.”); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.04 (5)(e) (“A records access officer shall ... to the extent feasible, furnish the public records by providing reasonable assistance in locating the records on an appropriately indexed and searchable public website”); 950 C.M.R. 32.07 (2)(a) (“A records access officer shall inform a requester of the availability of records online to avoid delays and fees associated with the provision of public records”). In this case, the Department has confirmed that the records Ms. Ortiz seeks are available on a public website, and has provided her with a link to the website. Consequently, based on the Department’s response, and the information provided in the appeal petition, I find that the Department has met its burden in responding to this request. Conclusion Accordingly, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. If Ms. Ortiz is not satisfied with the resolution of this administrative appeal, please be advised that this office shares jurisdiction with the Superior Court of the Commonwealth. See G. L. c. 66, §§ 10(b)(ix), 10A(c) (pursuing administrative appeal does not limit availability of judicial remedies). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Laura Ortiz