Daniel McDonald v. Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SPR 20253207)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records November 14, 2025 SPR25/3207 Brigid Finnegan Executive Assistant to the General Counsel Office of the General Counsel Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department 200 Nashua Street Boston, MA 02114 Dear Ms. Finnegan: I have received the petition of Danny McDonald, of the Boston Globe, appealing the response of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department (Department) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On September 4, 2025, Mr. McDonald requested: [1] Budget for the Suffolk sheriff’s marine unit for the past five years. [2] List of employees who have worked for the marine unit during the past five years and their salaries. [3] List of vehicles or equipment assigned to the marine unit, including boats. [4] Description of responsibilities and duties of the marine unit. [5] Any and all payouts, awards, severance agreements, and settlements the Suffolk sheriff’s office has paid since 2012. Looking for any documents that reflect the names of those paid, their lawyer’s names, amounts for all claims and/or payouts from the city’s insurance, and any case docket numbers where applicable. Previous Appeal This request was the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR25/2800 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (October 6, 2025). In my October 6th determination, I learned that the Department sent a further response to Mr. McDonald on October 1, 2025. Unsatisfied with the Department’s response, Mr. McDonald petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/3207, was opened as a result. 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

Brigid Finnegan SPR25/3207 Page 2 November 14, 2025 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. Attorney 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. Current Appeal In his appeal, Mr. McDonald states, “I just haven’t received any documents reflecting payouts yet nor have I received a timeline for when I would be provided them. I understand they say they have no responsive records for the marine unit. My focus now is the payouts. I have yet to receive any documents related to that, even though it’s been a month since they acknowledged the files do exist.” The Department’s October 1st Response In its October 1, 2025 response the Department responded as follows: Response to Item 1: The Department has no marine unit and, therefore, no responsive records. Response to Item 2: The Department has no marine unit and, therefore, no responsive records. Response to Item 3: The Department has no marine unit and, therefore, no responsive records. Response to Item 4: The Department has no marine unit and, therefore, no responsive records. Response to Item 5: The Department agrees to supplement with responsive records. Please note that the Department does not have a single record of “all payouts, awards, severance agreements, and settlements…paid since 2012.” Rather, this information is stored in separate case files. Therefore, the Department must create the record by going through each relevant case file and compiling the

Brigid Finnegan SPR25/3207 Page 3 November 14, 2025 information, in order to respond to your request. The Department is currently working on compiling this information. In the meantime, please note that these records are also available from Office of the Comptroller. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b) provides, in pertinent part, that if the magnitude or difficulty of the request unduly burdens the other responsibilities of the agency or municipality such that the agency or municipality cannot provide records within 10 business days, the agency or municipality must inform the requestor in writing within 10 business days. With respect to the timeframe to produce responsive records, the written response shall: identify a reasonable timeframe in which the agency or municipality shall produce the public records sought; provided, that for an agency, the timeframe shall not exceed 15 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records and for a municipality the timeframe shall not exceed 25 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records; and provided further, that the requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond the timeframes set forth herein. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). Where Mr. McDonald submitted the request on September 4th and the Department has not provided the responsive records, nor cited an exemption for withholding records, I find that the Department has not met its burden in responding to the request in accordance with G. L c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). Consequently, the Department must provide an estimated date as to when it intends to complete its review and provide any responsive records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (records must be provided without unreasonable delay). To the extent possible, the Department must provide responsive records on a rolling basis. Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. McDonald with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten 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. McDonald 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: Danny McDonald