The Adam Knight Photographs: The Position of this News Organization and the Public

 Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 12:59:41 AM EDT

Subject: SPR22/1566 

Additional Information Fw: Appeal Acknowledgment SPR22/1566


Patrick Sullivan, Esq.
Staff Attorney
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
Public Records Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 1719
Boston, MA 02108 

Dear Attorney Patrick Sullivan,

I want to alert you and Lt. Joseph Casey at MPD to a recent
law which I believe bolsters my case for the Councilor Knight
photographs.

It is attached, Exhibit 1.

As it is now midnight - 12:25 am July 21, Thursday,
I am not filing Mr. Casey's e mail address but the main
Keeper of the Records MPDRecords one, just in case
the e mails awake police officers 24/7.

Exhibit 1 is from page 6 of District Attorney Marian Ryan's public notice
to law enforcement.  It states:

"The recently-passed "Act Relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability 

in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth," eliminates
the "privacy exemption" to the Public Records Law for 

records relating to a "law enforcement misconduct investigation."
See Section 2, Chapter 253 of the Acts of 2020;  MGL c.4 § 7 cl. 26 (c). 

 As such, defendants and members of the public may now
be able to access an officer's IA file without filing a motion 

n conjunction with a criminal case.

I seem to recall that Lt. Casey's position switch from

"impeding law enforcement" to "privacy" of an elected official,
a Medford city councilor.

If a privacy exemption cannot shield a police officer from

 a "law enforcement misconduct investigation," all the more
reason an elected official has no such privacy right.   

Again, Mr. Casey switched horses mid-stream where

 I have been consistent in merely wanting photographs of a
public figure who misbehaved, and whose police report

 is in the public domain, thanks to this hard-working journalist.

Exhbit 2   Photographs of shoplifter with multiple warrants.
Photo entitled ArrestIMG_2961

On or about 5:26 pm July 10, 2022, as this writer was 

fueling his automobile at Stop and Shop, Wellington, I noticed
Medford police activity at Ocean State Job lot.   

About forty photographs or so were taken by this writer.

The defendant in this photo, one of two arrested that day,

 Michael N. Matthews (with alleged accomplice, Shayla Wilson)
were published on two of my web pages, one on Facebook, 

one on the Medford Information Central blog.

I must also note that with the closing of the Medford Mercury and

 Gannett pulling back local coverage, my news site
far outpaces the Medford Patch, making my work, by default, 

one of the most popular sites (arguably) for news in
Medford.  Unlike Malden and Everett which have a number of print publications.  

Even the Somerville/Medford news
weekly (which I write for, and which I am responsible in bringing it to Medford 

as I lobbied my publisher) does not 
print the stories that I am able to publish.   

Publisher Bill Tauro keeps it to press releases and such, not pushing the
envelope.  Noting this because the photographs of Matthews and Wilson

 took me by surprise, they were of great
public interest and the clicks/page views were astounding. 

My position with Exhibit 2 is that the police gladly handed me 

the police report, and never denied me the opportunity
to publish my photos.

Since I give the police - an organization I am highly critical of -

 five stars, A+ rating for handling the arrests, it is in the best interest 

of the Medford Police that the public see my work and the flawless job 

the Medford Police Dept. did in handling Matthews, 

who allegedly is a violent criminal (Assault and Battery, Armed Robbery

 I believe are the charges on Matthews' prior escapades.)

The public was all over the arrests of Matthews and Wilson, 

and it put the MPD in a great light in regards to public safety.

That I am the only regular news source in Medford, 

and as stated, by default, and that Medford Information Central 

is at 2,274,029 all-time page views at 12:55 am - the moment I am typing 

this (almost 2.3 million views) - it is clear that the photographs 

of an elected official, a city councilor, and how he behaves in public,

 is of great public interest to the citizens/ taxpayers shouldering 

Councilor Adam Knight's paycheck, a paycheck that Knight himself 

can set and vote on with his colleagues on the city council.

Any reasonable person can see that since Knight can 

control the press, as a public figure, and sets his own salary,
well, Mr. Joe Casey hasn't met the burden, despite coming up 

with different ideas and failing to show any consistency.

Mr. Casey holding the photos back is failing 

in his oath to protect and serve, in my opinion.

Thus, I ask the Records Division to order the Medford Police

 to comply with this important request, after all this time.

Thank you for taking the time to read my reports on this issue.


Respectfully,
 

Joe Viglione  
P.O. Box 2392
Woburn MA 01888

Photo of Matthews Arrest

(C)July 10 2022

#JoeViglione Media all rights reserved