K-9 Name Submissions

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:

All DMs, emails, faxes, phone calls, and other submissions responding to the @MBTATransitPD's call for potential dog names, which can be found here:
https://twitter.com/MBTATransitPD/status/717449022890385408

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 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

JPat Brown

Hello-
Can you confirm, as this seems to directly contradict earlier comments that most of the submissions were received via text message and DM?
http://gawker.com/boston-transit-police-are-furiously-spinning-the-mr-sp-1771630920
Thank you.

I'm appealing the attached response to my public public records request.

In this request, I asked for "All DMs, emails, faxes, phone calls, and other submissions responding to the @MBTATransitPD's call for potential dog names." I believe that this request clearly defined what records I was asking for, and since these materials were being tabulated, it should not be particularly burdensome. The MBTA Transit Police declined to properly process my request, instead stating that the materials were already "on the internet via our FaceBook and/or Twitter Account," while telling another news outlet that much of the material they received was privately sent. When I asked that responsive materials be searched for, they again declined, stating simply that my request was being closed.

I believe that the MBTA Transit Police has not done a proper search for records, and that their cited reasoning for not processing the request (the existence or non-existence of a dog named Mr. Spaghetti) is not a valid exemption to the public records law. Thank you for considering this appeal.