Use of force database

To Whom It May Concern:

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

* The city's electronic index/list of use of force incidents, including trooper names, incident dates, the type of force used, and any other public information in the database.

* Any documentation needed to understand the data, including any codes or abbreviations. The documentation is often called a data dictionary or record layout.

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.

If possible, please provide the data in standard machine-readable format, such as an ASCII delimited text file or Excel, rather than PDF.

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,
Andrew Quemere