Public Records Request for Data on School Policing (Salem Police Department)
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| Multi Request | Public Records Request for Data on School Policing |
| Submitted | Jan. 11, 2024 |
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Communications
From: katherine stathulis
To whoever it may concern:
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. c.66, §10, for public records in the custody of your school district. Under the Criminal Justice Reform Act, school districts and law enforcement agencies must “specify the manner and division of responsibility for collecting and reporting the school-based arrests, citations and court referrals of students to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education” (DESE). DESE began collecting data on school-related arrests in the 2018-19 school year. In the 2019-20 school year, DESE has expanded that collection to include data on all referrals to law enforcement. DESE has defined these terms as follows, borrowing the same definitions used by the U.S. Department of Education since its 2009 Civil Rights Data Collection.
A school-related arrest “[r]efers to an arrest of a student for any activity conducted on school grounds, during off campus school activities (including while taking school transportation), or due to a referral by any school official. All school-related arrests are considered referrals to law enforcement.”
A referral to law enforcement “[i]s an action by which a student is reported to any law enforcement agency or official, including a school police unit, for an incident that occurs on school grounds, during school-related events, or while taking school transportation, regardless of whether official action is taken. Citations, tickets, court referrals, and school-related arrests are considered referrals to law enforcement.”
I request the following public records, as defined in G. L. c. 4, § 7 (twenty-sixth):
1. An extract of your records management system or database that includes each school-related arrest and each referral to law enforcement conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school year (up until the day the records are produced). Specifically, we request an extract of the database to include the following columns:
a. Date of arrest or referral to law enforcement
b. Time of arrest or referral to law enforcement
c. Charge (or charges)
d. Whether the individual(s) was arrested or referred to law enforcement
e. Sex of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
f. Age of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
g. Race of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
h. Ethnicity of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
i. Disability status of the individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
j. Whether the individual arrested or referred to law enforcement is a student at the school.
k. Name of arresting officer, if applicable, and
l. Badge number of the arresting officer or the officer that referred the youth to law enforcement, as applicable.
2. If such an extract of the database in question 1 is not possible, please provide school incident reports on each school-related arrest and referral to law enforcement conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school year (up until the day the records are produced).
3. A copy of any active standard operating procedures developed with the police department and/or other law enforcement agencies regarding police placement or activity in your corresponding school; and,
4. Any records instructing or informing police personnel of, or otherwise describing data reporting requirements and procedures for complying with G.L. c. 71 § 37P(b).
5. The cost to the school district of assigning a school resource officer to each school; and,
6. The total number of school resource officers and total number of guidance counselors for each school in your district for school years 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and,
7. The total number and a brief description of 911 calls from schools in your district to local police departments conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022, and,
8. A description of the proposed budget for mental, social, or emotional health support personnel for the school district.
As this request involves a matter of public interest and will not be used for any commercial purpose, we ask that all fees associated with this request be waived pursuant to 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(k). The purpose of this request is to determine whether your school district and police department are complying with their reporting obligations under the Criminal Justice Reform Act. “The public has an interest in knowing whether public servants are carrying out their duties in an efficient and law-abiding manner.”
It would be ill-advised to impose a fee for data that your school district may have failed to report in violation of statutory and regulatory duty. Moreover, as you know, municipalities with a population of over 20,000 may not assess a fee for the first 2 hours of time spent searching for, compiling, segregating, redacting and reproducing a requested record. Finally, pursuant to 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(i), a records access officer shall assess no fee greater than the lowest hourly rate of a person capable of compiling, segregating, redacting and reproducing a requested record. In the event that a charge is incurred for this request which you will not waive, please so indicate and include an itemization of estimated good faith costs.
Please provide public records to a requestor in an electronic format unless the record is not available in an electronic format. G.L.c. 66, § 6A(d).
The Public Records Act requires that you comply with this request within ten (10) business days following receipt. If you believe that documents or data responsive to any request herein is not public record and thus not subject to disclosure, please set forth in writing the specific reasons for such assertion, including the specific exemption or exemptions that you believe apply. To the extent that you determine that records need to be redacted in order to be produced under any law protecting the privacy of named individuals, please do so rather than withholding them in their entirety.
If you have any questions about this request, or need additional time to respond, please contact me by phone at (617)-373-5862 or by email at k.stathulis@northeastern.edu. Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.
Sincerely,
Katherine Stathulis, Esq.
Center for Public Interest, Advocacy, and Collaboration
Northeastern University School of Law
From: Salem Police Department
We have received your request for possible records and a response will be provided within 10 business days per Mass Public Records Law<https://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf> to your respective request. Thank you for your patience.
**Note - Depending on the volume of records which you are requesting (and or needs to be searched to fulfill this request), we will communicate prior to completing your request a 'cost estimate' (and timeframe) in accordance with Mass Public Records Law<https://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf> for the completion/distribution of the information which you are requesting.
In the event we are not the 'Keeper of the Record' for the information you are seeking or 'No records Found' we will do our best to instruct you to the correct agency for the information being requested.
If this office can be of further assistance in the interim, please let us know.
Respectfully,
Ann Marie Greene
Principal Clerk
Support Services - Records Division
Salem Police Department
95 Margin St Salem Ma 01970
978-744-0171 ext 50132
agreene@salempd.net<mailto:agreene@salempd.net>
Records Division Homepage<https://www.salem.com/salem-police-department/contact-us/pages/public-records-requests>
Salem Police Department Homepage<https://www.salem.com/salem-police-department>
A Guide to Massachusetts Public Records Law<https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/public-records/download/guide.pdf>
Public Services Window Hours of Operations:
Records Inquiry Request Form Click Here<https://www.salem.com/sites/g/files/vyhlif3756/f/uploads/public_records_request_form_pdf.pdf>
Mondays 9a-3p
Tuesdays 9a-3p
Thursdays 11a-7p
Fridays 9a-12p
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From: Joseph Steinbach
Good evening Ms. Greene,
Thank you for your assistance and cooperation with this request. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns prior to the completed submission.
Respectfully,
Joseph Steinbach
Research Assistant
Center for Public Interest, Advocacy, and Collaboration
From: Salem Police Department
Dear Ms. Stathulis,
We received your request on 1-16-24 for the following information:
* 1. An extract of your records management system or database that includes each school-related arrest and each referral to law enforcement conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school year (up until the day the records are produced). Specifically, we request an extract of the database to include the following columns:
a. Date of arrest or referral to law enforcement
b. Time of arrest or referral to law enforcement
c. Charge (or charges)
d. Whether the individual(s) was arrested or referred to law enforcement
e. Sex of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
f. Age of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
g. Race of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
h. Ethnicity of individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
i. Disability status of the individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement
j. Whether the individual arrested or referred to law enforcement is a student at the school.
k. Name of arresting officer, if applicable, and
l. Badge number of the arresting officer or the officer that referred the youth to law enforcement, as applicable. Please see number two as the information being requested is not possible in this format from our RMS (Records Management System).
* 2. If such an extract of the database in question 1 is not possible, please provide school incident reports on each school-related arrest and referral to law enforcement conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school year (up until the day the records are produced).
* The total number of ALL 'juvenile arrests' (for the City of Salem) NOT just school related (including summons) for the requested timeframe 2018-2022= 244
*
To clarify which incidents were:
1. Arrests at a school (vs another location in the city)
2. Arrests (taken into custody) vs a court summons
We would need to read the narratives for ALL juvenile arrests/incident reports for the City of Salem (for that timeframe) as our Records Management System does not segregate information by 'school arrests' only.
* Most juvenile incidents that take place in schools (of criminal nature) have resulted in a summons and not an actual arrest as it is a very rare occurrence that a juvenile would be taken into custody by law enforcement
* 3. A copy of any active standard operating procedures developed with the police department and/or other law enforcement agencies regarding police placement or activity in your corresponding school; and,
See attached (reference - Salem School Resource Officer MOU)
* 4. Any records instructing or informing police personnel of, or otherwise describing data reporting requirements and procedures for complying with G.L. c. 71 § 37P(b).
See attached (reference - Salem PD Department Manual - Juvenile Operations Chapter 48)
No records found to fulfill this request as we are not the 'Keeper of the Records'
* 5. The cost to the school district of assigning a school resource officer to each school; and,
The total salaries allocated for this FY (fiscal year) for SROs in the Salem School District = $282,956.29 (as it is budgeted through the SPD)
* 6. The total number of school resource officers and total number of guidance counselors for each school in your district for school years 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and,
The total number of SRO's for the years being requested = 2 per year for the district
No records found to fulfill this request as we are not the 'Keeper of the Records'
* 7. The total number and a brief description of 911 calls from schools in your district to local police departments conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022, and,
* Estimate of the total number of calls 'logged to the address' of Salem Schools for the timeframe being requested = 2200 calls
*
Note a call may not pertain to the school rather that address was utilized in the course of a traffic stop in front of that address or something entirely different and the calls that 'may' be applicable to the school are usually 'medical' or accidental per our Dispatch Supervisor who assisted with compiling this information
* A brief description of EACH call is not possible without listening to each one of the individual calls (2200 for that timeframe) which would require a cost estimate due to the volume of information (due to timeframe) that would need to be listened to by personnel, to fulfill this part of your request
*
* 8. A description of the proposed budget for mental, social, or emotional health support personnel for the school district.
We are not the 'Keeper of the Records' for the Salem School District information and proposed budgets; rather only for records that are created or reported by this respective Department (Salem Police Department) for the City of Salem (MA)
If you wish to challenge any aspect of this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records following the procedure set forth in 950 C.M.R. 32.08, a copy of which is available at
http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-source/cmr/
Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR)<http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-source/cmr/>
Find regulations issued by all state agencies by number or by subject.
www.mass.gov<http://www.mass.gov>
If this office can be of further assistance or you need further clarification for any of the information provided, please let us know.
Respectfully,
Ann Marie Greene
Principal Clerk
Support Services - Records Division
Salem Police Department
95 Margin St Salem Ma 01970
978-744-0171 ext 50132
agreene@salempd.net<mailto:agreene@salempd.net>
Records Division Homepage<https://www.salem.com/salem-police-department/contact-us/pages/public-records-requests>
Salem Police Department Homepage<https://www.salem.com/salem-police-department>
A Guide to Massachusetts Public Records Law<https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/public-records/download/guide.pdf>
Public Services Window Hours of Operations:
Records Inquiry Request Form Click Here<https://www.salemma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif7986/f/uploads/public_records_request_form_pdf.pdf>
Mondays 9a-3p
Tuesdays 9a-3p
Thursdays 11a-7p
Fridays 9a-12p
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From: Joseph Steinbach
Good evening Ms. Greene,
I sincerely appreciate your help with this request and thank you for providing the information for our request. Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.
Respectfully,
Joseph Steinbach
Research Assistant
Center for Public Interest, Advocacy, and Collaboration
Northeastern University School of Law
From:
Hi Ann Marie,
Thank you for sending these, we really appreciate it!
Take care,
Katherine Stathulis
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