ShotSpotter Activations - Springfield, MA
| Submitted | Jan. 14, 2015 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Scriven King
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
Copies of recordings and ShotSpotter reports for all ShotSpotter activations in Springfield from 2010 to 2014.
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,
Scriven King
From: Towles, E. Rhett
Good Afternoon Mr. King;
I am in receipt of your request for public records from the City of Springfield Police Department, in which you requested the following documents:
- Copies of recordings and ShotSpotter reports for all ShotSpotter activations in Springfield from 2010 to 2014.
I will contact the appropriate departments and provide a formal written response within 10 calendar days of today.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. My contact information is below.
Sincerely,
E. Rhett Towles, MS, Esq.
Associate City Solicitor
City of Springfield
36 Court Street, Room 210
Springfield, MA 01103
Direct: 413.787-6174
Fax: 413.787-6173
This e-mail message is generated from the City of Springfield Law Department, and contains information that is confidential and may be privileged as an attorney/client communication or as attorney work product. The information is intended to be disclosed solely to the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this email information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete it from your computer system.
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~WRD000
From: Scriven King
Just checking to see where we're at with regards to my request. Many thanks in advance.
From: Towles, E. Rhett
Good Afternoon Mr. King;
Due to the size of the requested information, your request is taking longer than anticipated and we want to make sure that the response we issue will be as accurate and factual as possible. We hope to issue a formal response by COB tomorrow. I am waiting to hear back from one department at this time.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. My contact information is below.
Sincerely,
E. Rhett Towles, MS, Esq.
Associate City Solicitor
City of Springfield
36 Court Street, Room 210
Springfield, MA 01103
Direct: 413.787-6174
Fax: 413.787-6173
This e-mail message is generated from the City of Springfield Law Department, and contains information that is confidential and may be privileged as an attorney/client communication or as attorney work product. The information is intended to be disclosed solely to the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this email information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete it from your computer system.
From: Scriven King
That's fine. Keep me updated as soon as everything is complete. Many thanks in advance.
From: Towles, E. Rhett
Good afternoon Mr. King;
On or about January 14, 2015, you requested the following documents from the City of Springfield Police Department, with the City’s Response below:
- Copies of recordings and ShotSpotter reports for all ShotSpotter activations in Springfield from 2010 to 2014.
City’s Response: In your request, you sought recordings and reports for all ShotSpotter activations. Since 2010, the City believes that there have been more than 100,000 activations of the ShotSpotter system, which includes actual gunshot activations as well as other sources of false positive activations such as firecrackers, construction, automotive “backfires” and the like. The City, however, does not have within its possession any recordings of ShotSpotter activations, as the vendor is in complete possession of that data and merely advises the City upon an activation. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement between the City and ShotSpotter, the SpotShotter is the owner of all data. The City does not own the documents you seek, however, should you seek these documents, you may contact ShotSpotter’s Legal Counsel who may be able to further assist you in obtaining copies of recordings and ShotSpotter reports for the period you seek.
However, the City does have incident reports relative to some but not all ShotSpotter activations that were reported by ShotSpotter to the City, and accordingly, I have created a fee estimate below based on the estimated time it would take to print each report, segregate exempt information pursuant to M.G.L. c.4, §7(26)(a)-(u), and the price per page to copy.
The City estimates that there are approximately 380 computer printout pages of responsive documents for this request, which would take an estimated three hours to search for and make copies of. The fee to reproduce this document is $629.44, which is based on a rate of $0.50 per page ($190.00) plus the hourly rate of $18.48 for three hours ($55.44) for search fees. The anticipated segregation fee for this request of $384.00 is based on an estimated 32 hours of time to segregate any exempt information at an hourly rate of $12.00.
The total good faith estimate including postage for this set of requested documents is $629.44.
Since the total cost to comply with your public records request exceeds Ten Dollars ($10.00), you must pay the above estimated fee in full prior to the reproduction of the documents. Payment must be made by certified check, payable to the “City of Springfield”, in the full amount of the good faith fee estimated above. Please mail the certified check to the attention of Mr. E. Rhett Towles, 36 Court Street Law Department Room 210, Springfield, MA 01103. Attached, please find the City of Springfield’s fee estimate pricing.
Should you be aggrieved by this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office pursuant to 950 CMR 32.00 and G.L. c.66, §10(b).
Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. My contact information is below.
Sincerely,
E. Rhett Towles, MS, Esq.
Associate City Solicitor
City of Springfield
36 Court Street, Room 210
Springfield, MA 01103
Direct: 413.787-6174
Fax: 413.787-6173
This e-mail message is generated from the City of Springfield Law Department, and contains information that is confidential and may be privileged as an attorney/client communication or as attorney work product. The information is intended to be disclosed solely to the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this email information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete it from your computer system.
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