News Notes 10/11/19 Two appeals

Today CriticalMA filed two records appeals with Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office. Our two requests date back nearly a month, but due to the ongoing public records crisis in Massachusetts we cannot say when or if we will ever see the records we requested.

The first request will be detailed in an upcoming piece. It is related to a Dartmouth police officer who was arrested and charged with child rape.

The second request is related to the tasing of a pastor in Worcester and a pattern of arrests for a charge that is not against any law (or against common law) in Massachusetts. The department is holding copies of police ID cards (which we routinely receive from other police departments) exempt claiming that a law which prohibits police officers from giving their actual ID cards to other people somehow prevents the department from providing a copy of the card. They also attempted to assess a $455 fee for one of the categories of records we requested after the 10 business day deadline for responding to our request. 

The Clerk in Dartmouth provided exceptional service. We requested copies of the collective bargaining agreements with the police and teachers. This request was addressed immediately and those agreements are now public. Thanks for the exceptional service!

The WPD provided their use of force policy. Check it out here.