Citizens Police Academy

To Laura Kiesel or to whom it may concern,

In regards to the request pertaining to records for The Springfield APD's annual Citizen's Police Academy, that and any other public records request has to be made to The City of Springfield Public Records Request portal. This can be accessed via the City of Springfield web page. Requests should not be made directly to the police department. Thank you

Sergeant John D. Taylor
Information Services/Records Bureau
Springfield Police Department
130 Pearl Street
Springfield, MA 01105
(413) 787-6899
(413) 787-6800 fax
jtaylor@springfieldpolice.net<mailto:jtaylor@springfieldpolice.net>

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email communication and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information for the use of the above recipients by the designee sender of the Springfield Police Department. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this communication in error and that any review, disclosure, dissemination, distribution, retain or copying of it or its contents is prohibited. Please reply to the sender immediately by return e-mail or by telephone at (413)787-6308 and destroy / delete all copies of this communication and any attachments.

Dear Laura Kiesel:
The City of Springfield is in receipt of your public records request.
Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate department[s] and a response will be sent to you as soon as we have obtained and reviewed any document[s] that may be responsive to your request. Your request was received in this office on 9/14/2020 and given the reference number R002612-091420 for tracking purposes.
Pursuant to M.G.L. .c. 66, §10(b) the City has ten [10] business days to respond to your request.
Should you be aggrieved by this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office pursuant to 950 CMR 32.00 and M.G.L. c. 66, §10(b).
You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Thank you for using the Public Records Center.
The City of Springfield

--- Please respond above this line ---

RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of September 14, 2020, Reference # R002612-091420
Dear Laura Kiesel,
This email is in response to your public records request to the City of Springfield for “To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

I am looking for the following information in regards to Springfield APD's annual Citizens Police Academy:

- Names of the officers who have served as teachers/faculty at the Academy and hosted Ride-alongs, as well as all guest speakers for each year it has been in existence

- A breakdown of the annual budget/list of expenditures for every year of existence, including space rental, compensation for police faculty/teacher and guest speakers and any other expenses associated with the Academy

- A breakdown of number of attendees per year every year of existence

- If available, any demographic information of attendees by year--including gender, age, race/ethnicity, and income status

- A copy of the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) they have to sign to partake in the ride-along portion of the Academy (assuming they do)

- Access to evaluations of the academy given by attendees at the end of the course for every year of the course

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Laura Kiesel”

Please be advised that the City is in receipt of your request. While the request is labor intensive we are working diligently. Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate department[s] and a response will be sent to you as soon as we have obtained and reviewed any document[s] that may be responsive to your request.
Should you be aggrieved by this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office pursuant to 950 CMR 32.00 and M.G.L.c. 66, §10(b).

Please contact the Public Records Coordinator, AndreaL. Stone, by responding to this email with any questions. Please reference public recordsrequest #R002612-091420 in all correspondence regarding this request.
Sincerely,
Andrea L. Stone
Public Records Coordinator

--- Please respond above this line ---

RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of September 14, 2020, Reference # R002612-091420.
Dear Laura Kiesel,
This email is in response to your public records request to the City of Springfield for “To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

I am looking for the following information in regards to Springfield APD's annual Citizens Police Academy:

- Names of the officers who have served as teachers/faculty at the Academy and hosted Ride-alongs, as well as all guest speakers for each year it has been in existence

- A breakdown of the annual budget/list of expenditures for every year of existence, including space rental, compensation for police faculty/teacher and guest speakers and any other expenses associated with the Academy

- A breakdown of number of attendees per year every year of existence

- If available, any demographic information of attendees by year--including gender, age, race/ethnicity, and income status

- A copy of the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) they have to sign to partake in the ride-along portion of the Academy (assuming they do)

- Access to evaluations of the academy given by attendees at the end of the course for every year of the course

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Laura Kiesel”
Personnel in the Springfield Police Department  have submitted three [3] records as being responsive to your request. Please log in to the Public Records Center at the following link to retrieve the responsive documents. Public Records Request - R002612-091420
Please be advised the Springfield Police Department has advised this office that the Citizens Police Academy is a voluntary program, that was last done in late 2019,  “ride alongs” are not part of the Citizens Police Academy.  There is no information as far as budget expenditures as the program is a voluntary one that SPD hosts.
Should you be aggrieved by this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office pursuant to 950 CMR 32.00 and M.G.L.c. 66, §10(b).
Please contact the Public Records Coordinator, AndreaL. Stone, by responding to this email with any questions. Please reference public recordsrequest #R002612-091420 in all correspondence regarding this request.
Sincerely,
Andrea L. Stone
Public Records Coordinator
Enclosures