Blackstone Police Internal Investigations

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10, I'm requesting any internal police investigations from 2016-present and supporting documentation including procurement processes, scope, and related emails from the TA, town counsel, and pertinent boards.

I am requesting any internal affair reports resulting from an investigation including, but not limited to the following investigators:
Paul White
Al Donovan
Paul L'Italien
Frank Santin

Please be advised that denial of this request, or redactions made to released materials must be accompanied by citations of the exemptions you believe allow you to withhold the information requested.

I'm requesting that any fees be waived, as I believe the release of these materials is in the public interest, however, if fees cannot be waived, I ask that you include a good faith estimate of the anticipated fees in your response. I also request that the materials be provided electronically in an email attachment, in either PDF or Microsoft Word so it will be easily searchable.

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,
Erik S.

Good morning,

I checked the town website and the only investigation I could find was the Paul L'Italien one and that was only the summary. Are the other police investigations that were in the request on the website? If so, could you point me in the right direction?

Sincerely,
Erik S.

Good morning,

I wanted to follow up with the records request I sent on 1/25/2023. I was originally working with Town Administrator Dori Vecchio and it is my understanding she is no longer with the town. Could you point me in the right direction on who I should follow up with regarding this request? I have not received an update on this and wanted to try one more time before I filed an appeal. I have included the link and original email to my original request in this thread.

https://www.muckrock.com/foi/blackstone-468/blackstone-police-internal-investigations-139589

Email send on 1/25/23:
"To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10, I'm requesting any internal police investigations from 2016-present and supporting documentation including procurement processes, scope, and related emails from the TA, town counsel, and pertinent boards.

I am requesting any internal affair reports resulting from an investigation including, but not limited to the following investigators:
Paul White
Al Donovan
Paul L'Italien
Frank Santin

Please be advised that denial of this request, or redactions made to released materials must be accompanied by citations of the exemptions you believe allow you to withhold the information requested.

I'm requesting that any fees be waived, as I believe the release of these materials is in the public interest, however, if fees cannot be waived, I ask that you include a good faith estimate of the anticipated fees in your response. I also request that the materials be provided electronically in an email attachment, in either PDF or Microsoft Word so it will be easily searchable.

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."

Please let me know if you need anything else from me and I look forward to your response.
Erik S.

Good afternoon,

I wanted to confirm the receipt of the records request that was sent on 9/19/2023. In addition please let me know if you need anything else to fulfill the request or if I should be sending this to someone else.

Sincerely,
Erik S.

To whom this may concern,

I am writing to you to appeal a recent response from a records request I made to the Town of Blackstone’s records officer.

On 1/25/2023, pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10, I requested the following information (original request is attached): “Any internal police investigations from 2016-present and supporting documentation including procurement processes, scope, and related emails from the TA, town counsel, and pertinent boards”. In addition, I requested specific internal police department investigations that were performed by external investigators that included: “Paul White, Al Donovan, Paul L'Italien, and Frank Santin”.

On 2/23/2023, I received as response through email from the records officer Ms. Vecchio stating “Good morning: I respectfully request that you look on the Town of Blackstone website for this information. Thank you. Dori”. On 3/3/2023, I sent a follow up email that stated “I checked the town website and the only investigation I could find was the Paul L'Italien one and that was only the summary. Are the other police investigations that were in the request on the website? If so, could you point me in the right direction?”. After this email, I received no further correspondence on the matter.

On 9/19/2023, I sent a follow up email with the new records officer, Katie Moxam, requesting the police investigation and supporting documentation. On 10/13/2023, I received a response from Chief of Police Gregory Gilmore with a 70 page document of Police Department Investigated reports. While this information is greatly appreciated, I believe it does not satisfy my original request as it does not include the police investigations and supporting documentation for the 4 investigators I originally requested.

It is my belief that the town has not fulfilled my request entirely and may be withholding these documents from me in my original request. These investigations are public knowledge as they have been discussed in public meetings that have been documented through meetings minutes and recorded sessions. Furthermore, it is my understanding that the subject matters in the investigations have either been resolved or closed (e.g. Tappan v. Town of Blackstone et al (4:20-cv-40028) and the separation of former Chief of Police Ross Atstupenas) which would further the argument that they should available for public records request. I strongly believe that the information should be made available since they were paid for by the residents of Blackstone and in one instance the tax payers paid for an investigation that was indefinitely suspended but the results were never made public or reopened. Please find my the following documentation supporting my original request and the existence of these investigations.

Links to meetings and meeting minutes referenced:
BOS Video of Meeting (4/6/2021): https://blackstone.vod.castus.tv/vod/?video=bcd8d818-f428-40e7-af21-1eaf9770fca0&nav=programs%2FSelectmen Video of Meeting
BOS Video of Meeting (11/10/2020): https://blackstone.vod.castus.tv/vod/?video=99051c09-263a-407f-8bc0-bc5ebc00c699&nav=programs%2FSelectmen Meeting
BOS Meeting Minutes: https://www.townofblackstone.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif166/f/minutes/bos_mtg_min_04-06-21_1_lm.pdf

1. During the 4/6/2021 Board of Selectman Meeting (about 1 hour 47 minutes in) the topic of discussion was a records request from a resident for the full Police Report done in 2019 (by Paul L’Atlien). It was stated that the Summary Report and Full report is on the website, which is untrue, it is just the summary report. In the meeting the town counsel stated that the easiest way to handle this is to send out the full report and maybe in a redacted form. In addition, during the BOS meeting on 11/10/2020, Selectman Keefe held up a copy of the full 600 page report. I am requesting that the full, unredacted report be shared with me and request that since all of the matters have been settled and the issues have been resolved (to my knowledge).
2. During a previous records request for Board of Selectman Executive Meeting Minutes) the Paul White investigation was mentioned and discussed in Board Of Selectman Executive session meetings on 4/25/17 and 7/24/18. These meeting minutes have been accepted and are now public record. The investigation to my knowledge is closed and the investigation is not available on the website.
3. During the BOS meeting on 11/10/2020 at about 1 hour and 22 minutes in, Selectwoman Greene mentions a closed investigation performed by Al Donovan. I am unable to find any report on the website or mention of this report that is publicly available.
4. Aside from the Paul L'Italien investigation, during the 11/10/2020 BOS meeting from about 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1 hour and 17 minutes in, there is mention of a police investigation that was suspended indefinitely without being completed, “Indefinitely suspending an investigation by private by email, rather than closing it publicly”. Furthermore, it was mentioned that there were several emails between the Town Administrator and the Private Investigator (one being dated 4/22/2019) where the TA negotiated a $1,500 payment but suspended the investigation indefinitely. In the same meeting at 3 hours and 32 minutes in, both Selectwoman Bulso and Selectman Klutchivitz mentioned the “Santin report”. It is my belief through other research that this was the investigation that was performed by Frank Santin that I requested. As stated in the meeting, this investigation was indefinitely suspended rather than closed publicly. The town also paid $1,500 for a report or partial report that was never completed or made public. For these reasons, I am requesting that this report, any communications between the town and PI, and invoices be made public through my request.
5. In the same meeting on 11/10/2020, at 3 hour and 28 minutes in, Selectman Keefe presented a stack of paper and binders “full of Police Investigations”, one being the L'Italien report
and it was 600 pages. Selectman Keefe stated the investigation cost $16K, which is why I am requesting the invoices paid for these investigations.
6. In the same meeting on 11/10/2020, at 3 hour and 39 minutes in, selectman Keefe mentions a report that Paul L'Italien wrote that focused on the Donovan and Santin report. I was unable to find any board vote or meeting minutes where this investigation was agreed upon and voted on. For this reason I am requesting this report, as well as the agreed upon scope of all of the reports requested.

Based on the above supporting documentation, I am requesting that my original request of “all full versions of the reports and documentation including procurement processes, scope, and related emails from the TA, town counsel and pertinent boards” from the following investigators: Paul White, Al Donovan, Paul L'Italien, and Frank Santin be fulfilled. This includes all investigations, emails, scope documentation, and invoices specifically listed in the supporting documentation section (e.g. all investigations performed by Paul L'Italien - the police department, one focusing on the Donovan and Santin reports, etc.) as well any other investigations performed during the time frame specified (2016-Present).

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out.

Sincerely,
Erik Sorenson

Thank you for your response.

Is there a rough estimate on when this may be available or a decision will be made regarding the documents requested?

Sincerely,
Erik

Thank you very much and I hope you have a great weekend.

Sincerely,
Erik