Harold Blankenship v. North Brookfield Police Department (SPR 20242070)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records July 31, 2024 SPR24/2070 Chief Mark Smith North Brookfield Police Department 55 School Street North Brookfield, MA 01535 Dear Chief Smith: I have received the petition of Harold Blankenship appealing the nonresponse of the North Brookfield 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 July 3, 2024, Mr. Blankenship requested the following: 1. Any complaints, allegations, recommended charges correspondence, related materials, etc., from your department made to the Justice Department related to the incident at the North Brookfield High School involving my son and myself. 2. Any Rules, Laws, Statute, regulations, policies, etc. regarding riding bicycles in the town of North Brookfield Massachusetts. 3. Any e-mails or correspondence from [an identified individual] to [an identified] Superintendent relating to the same incident involving your investigations. 4. Policies, standards, protocols, and how you respond practiced by your department to respond to serious incident or calls by your department involving such a serious incidents [sic] and accusation in which we were accused of. 5. The date your Body Cams broke, the reason they broke and the date they were fixed with actual copies of receipts, where they were repaired or replaced, and amount paid to have them repaired. 6. Policies involving Officers lying on reports. Claiming to not yet have received responsive records, Mr. Blankenship petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR24/2070, was opened as a result. Despite being notified of the opening of this appeal, it remains unclear whether the 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

Chief Mark Smith SPR24/2070 Page 2 July 31, 2024 Department has provided a response. Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Blankenship with a response to his request, provided 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. Mr. Blankenship may appeal the substantive nature of the Department’s response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Harold Blankenship