Watertown, MA Police Department Use of Force policy and training materials

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 policies and training materials maintained by the department regarding use of force.

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,

Shawn Musgrave

Captain Rocca -

Thank you for your response and the attached fee estimate. Please confirm whether the requested materials are available in whole or in part as digital/electronic format records. If so, please provide them in this format, and revise the fee estimate accordingly.

Please note that a number of local police departments — including Boston, Somerville, Cambridge and the Massachusetts State Police — have provided their use of force policies at no charge and in electronic format.

Best,
Shawn Musgrave

Hello Captain Rocca-

Checking on the below request for an update to the fee estimate if these materials are available in digital format. Again, departments in Boston, Somerville, Cambridge and Worcester provided documents in digital format or posted them in full online, as did the Massachusetts State Police.

Best,
Shawn Musgrave
MuckRock

Hello -

The below emails to Captain Rocca (sent to: trocca@police.watertown-ma.gov) have not been answered. Please advise as to the request for an updated fee estimate, given that many of these materials have been released in digital/electronic format by many other Massachusetts law enforcement agencies.

Best,
Shawn Musgrave
MuckRock

Captain Rocca -

I am attempting to confirm whether you have been able to modify your fee estimate for my request for WPD use of force materials. I've emailed you a number of times via the MuckRock system without getting any response.

Please confirm receipt, and advise as to whether these materials are available in digital or electronic format, as dozens of other departments have provided without any fee.

Best,
Shawn Musgrave
MuckRock

Captain Rocca -

Checking on this. Please advise.

Best,
Shawn

Captain Rocca,

Thank you for your response.

Please confirm whether any of the requested materials are available in electronic or digital format?

Best,
Shawn

Hi Captain -

I hope you had a great weekend. Checking on the availability of electronic copies for these use of force materials.

Best,
Shawn

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 15, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Captain Rocca -

Thank you for sending the policy. Please advise whether training materials will be sent separately by mail?

Best,
Shawn

Captain Rocca -

Checking on the training materials. Please advise.

Best,
Shawn

Captain Rocca -

Thank you for following up. Please provide a breakdown of this fee — when I asked for both the policy and training materials before, you quoted $29.30.

Best,
Shawn