Blankenship, Shawn v. North Brookfield Police Department (SPR 20260676)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records March 13, 2026 SPR26/0676 Chief Ryan P. Daley North Brookfield Police Department 55 School Street North Brookfield, MA 01535 Dear Chief Daley: I have received the petition of Shawn Blankenship appealing the response of 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 February 4, 2026, Mr. Blankenship requested, . . . the following materials for the following date of February 4, 2026 from 5 a.m. to 7:30 a.m[:] [1] All call numbers[;] [2] All incident numbers[;] [3] Lobby video and all cameras in the department audio and video and don’t cut out audio as you have done[;] [4] All officers on duty[;] [5] All body cam footage[;] [6] Reason for [an identified individual] being there. The Department responded on February 26, 2026. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Blankenship petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR26/0676, was opened as a result. Fee Estimates – Municipalities A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(i). 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 Ryan P. Daley SPR26/0676 Page 2 March 13, 2026 Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 2 hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Current Appeal In his February 26, 2026 appeal, Mr. Blankenship asserts, “[p]lease compel [the Department] to provide requests for video evidence for my independent investigation and to provide to the DOJ and AGO. I am on disability and I have always received requests for no cost. Please compel [the Department] from deleting evidence and obstructing justice.” Fee Waivers G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(v) provides the following with respect to waiving a fee for the production of responsive records: the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee charged under this subsection upon a showing that disclosure of a requested record is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requestor, or upon a showing that the requestor lacks the financial ability to pay the full amount of the reasonable fee. Please be advised, although the Supervisor may encourage fees to be waived, the Supervisor may not mandate that a records access officer waive fees assessed for complying with a public records request; rather, as described above, the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee upon a showing of various factors. See G. L. c. 66, § 10 (d)(v); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(k). The Department’s February 26th Response In its February 26, 2026 response, the Department provided a fee estimate of $450.00. In support of the fee estimate, the Department stated as follows: … this request includes a substantial amount of video footage that must be

Chief Ryan P. Daley SPR26/0676 Page 3 March 13, 2026 reviewed to determine if it is subject to public records disclosure or may need to be redacted or segregated. The length of the videos requested is 17.75 hours which include the body cam and station video. I estimate it will take 18.0 hours to complete your request. The estimated fee for the 18 hours will be $450.00 ($25.00/Hr.). Additionally there will be a $5.30 cost for the electronic storage device. Upon receipt of payment we will process the request. Station video 17.75 hrs. Body worn cameras 15 min. In an effort to be transparent the station videos system only saves the video for 30 days. Please let me know by March 2 if your will be requesting this footage and have payment in full prior to March 6th. You should be aware that compliance with such request, after the initial one-half hour, may include charges for the lowest-paid Town employee capable of searching for and compiling responsive records, and $0.05 per page for black and white copies and printouts. Please inform the Town if you would prefer electronic copies instead. In accordance with 950 CMR 32.07(2)(m), municipalities with a population of 20,000 and under may assess a fee, including the first two hours, for time spent searching for, compiling, segregating, redacting, and reproducing a requested record … Although the Department has estimated that the process of reviewing and preparing responsive documents for production will take 18 hours, it is unclear how the Department requires this amount of time to produce responsive records. The Department must advise how much time it is allocating to search and how much time it is allocating to segregate and and/or redact the records. Additionally, if the Department intends to redact, the Department must state the applicable statutes. Pursuant to the Public Records Law, a fee may not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(ii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Further, although the Department states that “. . . municipalities with a population of 20,000 and under may assess a fee, including the first two hours, for time spent searching for, compiling, segregating, redacting, and reproducing a requested record …[,]” it does not confirm whether it is assessing a fee for the first 2 hours based on the size of its population. The Department must clarify these matters. For the reasons discussed above, I find the Department must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fee estimate of $450.00 is consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). This office encourages Mr. Blankenship and the Department to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. Mr. Blankenship may consider narrowing the scope of his request to enable the Department to provide the records more efficiently and affordably. The Department must use its superior knowledge of the records to suggest any

Chief Ryan P. Daley SPR26/0676 Page 4 March 13, 2026 potential reasonable modifications to the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce the records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Blankenship 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. 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: Shawn Blankenship