Rylee Meints v. Winchendon, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20250359)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records February 11, 2025 SPR25/0359 Marla Watkins Executive Assistant Winchendon Police Department 80 Central Street Winchendon, MA 01475 Dear Ms. Watkins: On February 6, 2025, this office received your petition on behalf of the Winchendon Police Department (Department) seeking an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, it is my understanding that the Department furnished a copy of the petition to the requestor, Rylee Meints. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(2). On January 27, 2025, Rylee Meints requested the following: [1] An extract of your records management system or database that includes each school-related arrest and each referral to law enforcement conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 school year (up until the day the records are produced). Specifically, we request an extract of the database to include the following columns: [a] Date of arrest or referral to law enforcement[;] [b] Time of arrest or referral to law enforcement[;] [c] Charge (or charges)[;] [d] Whether the individual(s) was arrested or referred to law enforcement[;] [e] Sex of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement[;] [f] Age of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement[;] [g] Race of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement[;] [h] Ethnicity of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement[;] [i] Disability status of the individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement[;] [j] Whether the individual arrested or referred to law enforcement is a student at the school[;] [k] Name of arresting officer, if applicable[;] and [l] Badge number of the arresting officer or the officer that referred the youth to law enforcement, as applicable[;] [2] If such an extract of the database in question 1 is not possible, please provide 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

Marla Watkins SPR25/0359 Page 2 February 11, 2025 police reports and school incident reports on each school-related arrest conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 school year (up until the day the records are produced)[;] [3] Please provide an unduplicated count of arrested students for each school year including 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 school year (up until the day the records are produced)[;] [4] If such an extract of the database in question 1 is not possible, please provide police reports and school incident reports on each referral to law enforcement conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022- 2023 school year (up until the day the records are produced), per the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection for that year. For each referral to law enforcement, please include the school, demographic, and incident information described in DESE’s School Safety and Discipline Report Data Handbook v. 20.0[;] [5] Please also provide an unduplicated counts of referrals to law enforcement (as defined above) for each school year including 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year (up until the day the records are produced). Petition for an Extension of Time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government

Marla Watkins SPR25/0359 Page 3 February 11, 2025 activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) must provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current Petition In its petition, the Department requests “a single extension of at least 15 business days” and provides the following information in support of its request: [W]e cannot complete the request within (10) business days following our initial receipt because the request unduly burdens the other responsibilities of our department due to the magnitude or difficulty of a request. [T]he magnitude or difficulty of the request unduly burdens the other responsibilities of this small department. In particular, the enormous date range of 2018 through present 2025, (up until records are produced), and the sheer volume of reports that must be painstakingly scanned through as our small department has no way to segregate specific data as it related to your request. In light of the need to collect, segregate and examine the records, as well as the capacity of the Department to produce the records without an extension, the Department has established good cause to permit an extension of time. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(i)-(iv). The Department is granted an extension of 15 business days. Conclusion As described above, I find that the Department has established good cause for a time extension of 15 business days. Please note, Rylee Meints has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, §§ 10(c), 10(d)(iv)(4), 10A(c). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Rylee Meints