Far Left Groups in Massachusetts
Submitted | Feb. 11, 2019 |
Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Daniel Boguslaw
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
Any and all documents, communications, memorandum, and reports containing the terms or related to the groups "Antifa" "Socialist Rifle Association" "John Brown Gun Club" between 1/1/15 and 2/10/2019
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,
Daniel Kaufman
From: Massachusetts State Police
Mr. Kaufman,
I will also be handling this request on behalf of MSP. I ordered an email search with the specified keywords which produced 5,563 results. That does not include other documents/reports containing those keywords. The cost estimate for review/redaction of the emails alone will be close to $7,000. Would you like me to proceed and provide you with an official written cost estimate or would you prefer to try and narrow your search?
Please let me know.
Thanks,
Jason
From: Daniel Boguslaw
Jason,
Thanks for getting back to me on this. I wanted to make a few adjustments to the search to hopefully reduce cost. First, I would ask that all duplicates be excluded from the final request. Secondly, I was wondering if you could give me a break down on the projected hours required to fulfill this request. Finally, I would ask that any emails that include only news articles (without any commentary by senders) referencing the aforementioned groups be excluded.
Best,
Dan
From: Massachusetts State Police
Dan,
Good morning. Unfortunately none of those additional parameters would reduce the estimated cost to fulfill this request. The email searches are run by the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS) and are automatically deduplicated. Additionally, they can only run searches by specifying keywords, dates and user accounts. There is no search parameter that will exclude "news articles without sender commentary" from the results.
As far as projected hours, the estimated time to review and redact the emails alone would be approximately 280 hours. This time/cost estimate does not include the added time/cost of reviewing and redacting additional documents and reports, aside from emails, produced by searching the same keywords. I like to give a preliminary estimate using just the emails as that generally constitutes the largest portion of responsive documents. Also, please be aware that I do not have an estimated date that this request would be resolved. Our agency is currently inundated with public records requests and there are several in queue before I would be able to begin the review and redaction process for this request.
Please let me know how you wish to proceed.
Thank you,
Jason
From: Daniel Boguslaw
Hello Jason thanks for the update. I would like to proceed with the request.
Best,
Dan
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 11, 2019. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Massachusetts State Police
Dan,
I apologize for the delay. I've been out sick since Friday and I owe you a cost estimate on both of your public records requests. Would you agree to a deadline of Thursday (the 28th) at 5:00pm just to give me a chance to have everything reviewed by a supervisor? Please let me know.
Thanks,
Jason
From: Daniel Boguslaw
Sure thing. That date will be just fine. Hope you get well soon!
Best,
Dan
From: Massachusetts State Police
Mr. Kaufman,
Attached please find the Department's cost estimate for the public records request referenced in the subject line. I am also including a PDF copy of the Department's fee petition which is being sent to the Supervisor of Public Records. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
Regards,
Jason
_______________________________________
Jason R. Stelmat | Privacy Officer
Massachusetts State Police | Commonwealth Fusion Center
124 Acton Street, Maynard MA 01754
direct 978-451-3752 | fax 978-451-3767
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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachment is privileged and confidential law enforcement information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, dissemination, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please call 978-451-3700<tel:978-451-3700> immediately. Thank-you.
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
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From: Massachusetts State Police
Dan,
Please see attached. I've filed a motion for reconsideration with the supervisor of public records for this request. They have denied our request for a fee petition based on a missed deadline which appears to be an oversight based on the fact that we had an agreement to extend the deadline. It has been a very common practice to extend deadlines by agreement in public record requests so not sure what happened here. I spelled out our email communications more thoroughly and attached our email chain for their review. Hopefully they issue a quick decision.
Best,
Jason
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