Public Records Request Log (Arlington Police Department)

Good morning,

We received your records request regarding a log of public records requests.

We actually do not keep a log of requests. According to the public records
law we are not required to. The law states, as you can see below, that an
agency other than a municipality, is required to do so. We are a
municipality.

Thank you so much. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to
contact me.

G. L. c. 66, § 6A

(a) Each agency and municipality shall designate 1 or more employees as
records access officers. In a municipality, the municipal clerk, or the
clerk's designees, or any designee of a municipality that the chief
executive officer of the municipality may appoint, shall serve as records
access officers. For the purposes of this chapter the term "agency'' shall
mean any entity, other than a municipality, that is identified in clause
twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 as possessing "public records,'' as
defined therein.

(b) A records access officer shall coordinate an agency's or a
municipality's response to requests for access to public records and shall
facilitate the resolution of such requests by the timely and thorough
production of public records. Each records access officer shall:

(i) assist persons seeking public records to identify the records sought;

(ii) assist the custodian of records in preserving public records in
accordance with all applicable laws, rules, regulations and schedules; and

(iii) prepare guidelines that enable a person seeking access to public
records in the custody of the agency or municipality to make informed
requests regarding the availability of such public records electronically or
otherwise.

Guidelines shall be updated periodically and shall include a list of
categories of public records maintained by the agency or municipality. Each
agency and municipality that maintains a website shall post the guidelines
on its website.

(c) Each agency and municipality shall post in a conspicuous location at its
offices and on its website, if any, the name, title, business address,
business telephone number, and business email address of each records access
officer. The designation of 1 or more records access officers shall not be
construed to prohibit employees who have been previously authorized to make
public records or information available to the public from continuing to do
so. Any employee responsible for making records available shall provide the
records in accordance with this chapter.

(d) The records access officer shall provide the public records to a
requestor by electronic means unless the record is not available in
electronic form or the requestor does not have the ability to receive or
access the records in a usable electronic form. The records access officer
shall, to the extent feasible, provide the public record in the requestor's
preferred format or, in the absence of a preferred format, in a searchable,
machine readable format. The records access officer shall not be required to
create a new public record in order to comply with a request, provided that
furnishing a segregable portion of a public record shall not be deemed to be
creation of a new record. If the public record requested is available on a
public website pursuant to subsection (b) of section 19 of this chapter,
section 14C of chapter 7 or any other appropriately indexed and searchable
public website, the records access officer may furnish the public record by
providing reasonable assistance in locating the requested record on the
public website. An electronically produced document submitted to an agency
or municipality for use in deliberations by a public body shall be provided
in an electronic format at the time of submission.

(e) Each records access officer of an agency shall document each request for
public records submitted to the records access officer. The records access
officer shall document:

(i) the nature of the request and the date on which the request was
received;

(ii) the date on which a response is provided to the requestor;

(iii) the date on which a public record is provided to the requestor;

(iv) the number of hours required to fulfill the request;

(v) fees charged to the person making the request, if any;

(vi) petitions submitted under clause (iv) of subsection (d) of section 10;

(vii) requests appealed under section 10A;

(viii) the time required to comply with supervisor of records orders under
said section 10A

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Kind Regards,

Suzanne Santorelli

Arlington Police Department

112 Mystic Street

Arlington, MA 02474

Phone: (781) 316-3932

Fax: (781) 316-3933

www.arlingtonma.gov

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