I, JV, BELIEVE THAT LT. CASEY IS ATTEMPTING TO MUDDY THE WATERS/WHY WON'T MPD GIVE THE PUBLIC THE INFORMATION REQUESTED? IN A TIMELY MANNER

 

Fri, Dec 16 at 10:56 PM

Lori Sullivan, Esq.

Senior Attorney
Secretary of the Commonwealth of MA
Public Records Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 1719
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: (617) 727-2832
Email: Lori.Sullivan@SEC.state.ma.us

RE: Lt. Casey Never Responded Properly to Determination

Dear Attorney Sullivan:

 

I am puzzled with Lt. Casey's knee-jerk reaction in this matter.

a)The Records Division ordered Lt. Casey as Keeper of the Records

to give me, the petitioner, a response "in a manner consistent with this order"

b)Lt Casey appears to have intentionally ignored the order and, instead,

wrote to the Records Division as if adding information outside of the 10 day

window.

Why is there an appeal when Casey was ORDERED to give me the information?

I will phone the Records Division on Monday as I believe Lt. Casey intentionally

is avoiding the Determination, looking to bully the Records Division and not

comply with the order.

Am I shocked?  No.  

Am I disappointed?  Yes.

We went through a similar episode like this previously with Mr. Casey when,

after I prevailed in the Adam Knight matter (SPR22/1566)....Casey completely

did a 180, in my opinion, and came up with a different excuse when his first

position fell apart. 

Evading the protocol in this fashion is muddying the waters and creating confusion.

Casey gave me two police reports on wrongful conduct by two city councilors who

showed up in 2021 police reports.  Now Mr. Casey is asking for a specific name when,

with the 2021 request, no such specifics were necessary.

Essentially, Lt. Casey is making the bar higher for this petitioner/requester, pushing

the timeline back further by writing directly to the Public Records Division WITHOUT

responding to me after being ordered to give a sane, logical response to my request.

I say again, Mr. Casey's quick response on Dec 15 to the Records Division,  a response

to a December 15 Determination - and ignoring the Determination - feels more like

"additional information" sent outside of the 10 day period.

I would like Mr. Casey to abide by the rules and give myself (and the public) the

information.  This is of GREAT public interest.

Respectfully,

Joe Viglione

Joe Viglione  

P.O. Box 2392

Woburn MA 01888

tel 617 899 5926  

On Friday, December 16, 2022 at 05:26:55 PM EST, Sullivan, Lori (SEC) <lori.sullivan@state.ma.us> wrote:

Dear Records Custodian:

Please be aware, this office has received an appeal relating to your entity’s response to a request for public records. Attached are further details concerning this appeal. If you have any questions or wish to provide further information relating to this matter, please contact the Public Records Division at pre@sec.state.ma.us or 617-727-2832. Given that the Supervisor of Records must issue a determination within 10 business days of receipt of the appeal petition, please provide any additional information to this office as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Lori Sullivan, Esq.

Senior Attorney

Secretary of the Commonwealth of MA

Public Records Division

One Ashburton Place, Room 1719

Boston, MA 02108

Tel: (617) 727-2832

Email: Lori.Sullivan@SEC.state.ma.us

 

Thu, Dec 15 at 3:04 PM

HI;  Thank you for your response to Mr. Vigliones appeal.  Please accept my comments for clarification as to the Departments position:

Below is Mr. Vigliones records request on November 29, 2022

"Re: Massachusetts Public Records Request

       Alleged Assault by Police Officer or Firefighter

Hello Lt. Casey and Medford City Hall:

This is a request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (M. G. L. Chapter 66, Section 10). I am requesting that I be provided a copy of the following records -

1)Any police report regarding a firefighter or police officer in Medford who may have assaulted his wife

  I received a letter in the U.S. Mail on or about 11/28/22 informing me of an alleged assault.

2)Any correspondence between Medford City Hall and any entity regarding this alleged assault

3)Any police report(s) from Jan 1, 2022 regarding members of the city council, school committee or employee of Medford

   city government (DPW, etc.)"

In regards to #1 and #2 Mr. Viglione is requesting records pertaining to an alleged assault by a Medford Police Officer or a Firefighter upon the individuals wife.  Mr. Viglione attributes this information to a letter he received on or about 11/28/22.  I am unable to confirm or deny the existence of the record as Mr. Viglione has not identified specific information such as the time and date of the alleged assault, or the names of the individuals involved in the alleged assault.   Furthermore if Mr. Viglione has such information the record would be exempt per Exemption A, in that the record is exempted form disclosure by statute.  The nature of the record (if it does exist) is of an individual (police officer or firefighter) who had allegedly assaulted his wife, as such it is an incident in relation to domestic violence which is exempted as a public record.   

MGL chapter 41 section 97 D provides the following:

"Section 97D: Confidentiality of reports of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence; access by victim and certain individuals in performance of their duties; violations; penalties

Section 97D. All reports of rape and sexual assault or attempts to commit such offenses, all reports of abuse perpetrated by family or household members, as defined in section 1 of chapter 209A, and all communications between police officers and victims of such offenses or abuse shall not be public reports and shall be maintained by the police departments in a manner that shall assure their confidentiality;"

Thus any police report or communication between City Hall and the Police Department (if it does exist) would be exempt per statute. 

Mr. Viglione correctly asserts that Internal Affairs reports of the Police Department are not exempted as public records.  However with out further information to identify which Police Officer Mr. Viglione is referring to, I am unable to identify the specific record that he is requesting. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Lt. Joseph Casey

Medford Police 

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