27 Incident Reports

Allan Lasser filed this request with the Cambridge Police Department of Cambridge, MA.
Submitted Jan. 29, 2015
Est. Completion None
Status
Withdrawn
Tags

Communications

From: Allan Lasser

Subject: None

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, ยง10, I hereby request the following records:

Incident reports for the 27 accidents at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Vassar Street between January 2010 and December 28, 2011. Cambridge PD gave this number of accidents in an article published by Boston.com on December 28, 2011 and available online: http://cl.ly/0i031z3C2C2i

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 fees cannot be waived, 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 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Allan Lasser

From: Warnick,Jeremy

Subject: None

Email

Hello.

As noted, a fee will be required prior to fulfilling your request for 27 accident/incident reports as multiple parties will be required to process your request. It is estimated that it will take these parties from the Cambridge Police Department approximately seven (7) hours to process these records. The applicable hourly rates are $15.45 ($15.45 x 3 hours = $46.35), $20 ($20 x 2 hours = $40.00) and $30 ($30 x 2 hours = $60.00). It is also estimated that approximately (90) responsive documents exist, which would need to be printed and scanned for a fee of $.20 per page (90 x .20 = $18.00). Therefore, the total fee estimate is $164.36 ($146.36 + $18.00).

This amount is payable in advance of the City actually complying with your request. You may pay by check payable to the City of Cambridge sent to my attention.

This is an estimate. If the amount you pay turns out to be more than was necessary to comply with your request, you will be refunded the difference. If the estimate turns out to be too little, the City will comply with the request to the extent paid for and will submit a new estimate to you to complete the response.

Jeremy Warnick
Director of Communications & Media Relations
Cambridge Police Department
125 Sixth Street
Cambridge, MA 02142

From: Allan Lasser

Subject: None

Email

Hello Mr. Warnick,

Could you please explain what makes these fees necessary? I am requesting this information to better understand traffic accident patterns in Cambridge, inspired by Vision Zero campaigns (zero traffic injuries or fatalities) in New York, Seattle, and other major U.S. cities. As such, I believe this request is in the public interest.

Also, I am confused by the per-page fee. Can this fee be avoided by printing to PDF or converting to some other digital format?

Thank you,
Allan Lasser

From: Warnick,Jeremy

Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Request: 27 Incident Reports

Email

Good morning, Mr. Lasser.

After further discussion, we have agreed to waive the fees associated with the printing and scanning of the requested documents. However, since this particular request is labor intensive and requires several resources, the estimated fee of $146.36 would still be required in order to process the request.

As an alternative, you may be interested in reviewing https://data.cambridgema.gov/, as Cambridge offers a listing of accidents involving motor vehicles, bicycles and/or pedestrians reported in the City between 2010-2013.

Jeremy

Jeremy Warnick
Director of Communications & Media Relations
Cambridge Police Department
125 Sixth Street
Cambridge, MA 02142

Files

There are no files associated with this request.