IAPro export of information about Lt. Michael E. Richards
| Submitted | April 19, 2015 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Adam Friedman
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
A data export of all complaint information concerning Lt. Michael E. Richards contained in the IAPro and associated software and/or electronic databases, with fields requiring redaction already removed from any data export so as to minimize unreasonable time and cost associated with redaction.
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,
Adam Friedman
From: Zawada, Jaclyn (POL)
Dear Mr. Friedman,
The Massachusetts Department of State Police ("Department") has received your public records request for "a data export of all complaint information concerning Lt. Michael Richards contained in the IAPRO and associated software and/or electronic databases, with fields requiring redaction already removed from any data export so as to minimize unreasonable time and cost associated with redaction."
Please be advised that this request has been assigned to me for review. I write to request clarification. In particular, if you could explain with specificity what is meant by "complaint information concerning Lt. Michael Richards," it will greatly assist the Department in determining the nature and the scope of its search/segregation process. As you may know, Lt. Richards was recently transferred to the Complaint Intake Section. Therefore it is unclear whether your request seeks information concerning complaints against Lt. Richards, or information concerning complaints made to Lt. Richards, or some other information. Please advise.
Similarly, if you could elaborate on "associated software and/or electronic databases," this will also help the Department is determining the nature and scope of the necessary search/segregation. While the Internal Affairs Section uses IAPro relative to its investigations, Department members use various other kinds of software and databases. For example, reports of cruiser crashes are generated not in IAPro but in the Records Activity Management System, or RAMS, which is an entirely separate system. If you could provide further detail, this will assist the Department in determining where and for what it must search.
Additionally, although you requested that "fields requiring redaction [be] already removed," please keep in mind that I will need to review material to determine what exemptions apply before I redact any portion of the material. Similarly, please keep in mind that, as always:
* The Department may send you a good faith estimate for the cost of responding to your inquiry because, pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, a records custodian may charge and recover a fee for the time he or she spends searching for, redacting, photocopying and re-filing a record.
* Any response by the Department will be subject to the Public Records Law exemptions set forth in G.L. c. 4, sec. 7, cl. 26.
* Under the Public Records Law, every requester is treated equally. Thus, even a person who is the subject of the record is not granted any greater access right than any other person.
I look forward to hearing from you. Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Jaclyn R. Zawada
Staff Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
General Headquarters
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: (508) 820-2341
Fax: (508) 820-2649
From: Adam Friedman
Hello Attorney Zawada,
Thank you kindly for the timely follow-up.
(1) I am requesting any complaint made *against* Lt. Michael Richards that resides in the IAPro system (and relevant associated software and/or electronic databases).
(2) I intend to ensure the scope of my request includes any associated software and/or electronic databases in which information that is directly linked to target complaint information in the IAPro database might also reside, such as BlueTeam (although my current understanding is that BlueTeam is a web front-end interface that deposits user input into IAPro, so that example might not apply).
(3) The intention of "fields requiring redaction [be] already removed" is to ensure that staff use a streamlined redaction workflow in good faith, ie, utilize the flexible data export or data report functions already available in IAPro which allows the staff member to simply remove an entire field/column from outputting, so s/he avoids dumping too much data and then spend unreasonable time to conduct manual redaction of repeated field values.
Thanks again, Attorney Zawada.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on April 19, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: Zawada, Jaclyn (POL)
Dear Mr. Friedman,
Please see the Department’s response to your request (attached). Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Jaclyn R. Zawada
Staff Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
General Headquarters
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: (508) 820-2341
Fax: (508) 820-2649
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Muckrock - Adam Friedman - 4.19.15 PRR - Concise Officer History - Lt.
From: Zawada, Jaclyn (POL)
Dear Mr. Friedman,
Please see the Department’s response to your request (attached). Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Jaclyn R. Zawada
Staff Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
General Headquarters
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: (508) 820-2341
Fax: (508) 820-2649
From: Zawada, Jaclyn (POL)
Dear Mr. Friedman,
I received your voicemail from this morning and returned your call just now, but a recording indicated that your voicemail box has not been set up yet, so I was unable to leave a message. If you have questions, please feel free to call me at (508)820-2341.
Thank you,
Jaclyn R. Zawada
Staff Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
General Headquarters
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: (508) 820-2341
Fax: (508) 820-2649
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