BLM comms (Maine State Police)

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Maine State Police of Maine.
Multi Request BLM comms
Submitted June 8, 2020
Est. Completion None
Status
Fix Required

Communications

From: Emma North-Best

Subject: Maine Freedom of Access Act Request: BLM comms (Maine State Police)

Email


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, I hereby request the following records:

Emails, letters, and memos to or from police/law enforcement unions, the National Guard, or federal officials between May 1, 2020 and the present.

I also request copies of emails containing any of the following: "protest", "protests", "Black Lives Matter", "BLM", "riot", "riots", "antifa", "antifascist", "anti-fascist", or "militia".

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

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 1 M.R.S.A. § 408(6). 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.

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 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emma Best

From: Maine State Police

Subject: RE: Maine Freedom of Access Act Request: BLM comms (Maine State Police)

Email

Dear Ms. Best:

This email is sent to acknowledge receipt of your FOAA request below.

At this time, please note the following:

1. That access would need to be denied to what, if any, records our agency might have that are responsive to the request and that by law are confidential or otherwise not publicly accessible. See 1 M.R.S.A. §§ 402(3)(A), 408-A(4). See generally 16 M.R.S.A. § 804;
2. Given that there are pending FOAA requests that preceded yours on which our agency is currently working, and because of the considerable scope of your request, I anticipate that at least several months will be needed to process the request;
3. I also anticipate that the total fee to process the request will exceed thirty dollars ($30). (Please note that I am unable to provide a total fee estimate at this time.)

Accordingly, at your convenience, please let me know if, in light of the above information, you would like our agency to continue processing your request, or if you would like to modify the scope of the request in any way to make our agency’s ability provide you with information you are seeking more efficient.

Thank you.

Respectfully, C

Chris

CHRISTOPHER PARR
STAFF ATTORNEY | MAINE STATE POLICE

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, may contain or constitute information that is confidential by law, that is work product, and/or that is protected by one or more recognized privileges. IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS E-MAIL IN ERROR, PLEASE CONTACT me WITH A REPLY E-MAIL at the earliest convenience. Thank you.

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