BPD Arrest logs for Newmarket area

Dear Cassie Hurd
Thank you for your interest in public records of Boston Police Department. Your request has been received and is being processed. Your request was received in this office on 2/4/2025 8:14:32 PM and given the reference number B000344-020425 for tracking purposes.
If this is a media request, please contact the Office of Media Relations directly at 617.343.4520.
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Any and all arrest logs and files from in the 0.75 mile radius of the Mass Ave/ Melnea Cass Boulevard area -as defined by the city’s 311 dashboard website- between July 1,2024 - December 31, 2024, which include any of the words: “encampment”, “camping”, “tent”, “unhoused”, “homeless”,“drug”, “drugs”, “substance”, “substances”, “needle”, “needles”, “alcohol”, “pipe”,”pipes”, or cite city ordinance 16-66: UNLAWFUL CAMPING ON PUBLIC PROPERTY.

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, and is not made for commercial usage.

In the event that there are fees, 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 .

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Cassie Hurd

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Again, thank you for using the Public Records Center.
Director, Public Information
Boston Police Department

--- Please respond above this line ---

February 21, 2025

RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of February 4, 2025, Reference #B000344-020425
Dear Cassie Hurd:
The Boston Police Department (Department) has received your request for public records. This
response applies only to records that exist and are in the custody of the City. See A Guide to the
Massachusetts Public Records Law, p. 32, n.115. It is expected that a custodian of records must
use her superior knowledge of her records concerning responses to public records requests. 950
CMR 32.04(5). Specifically, you stated:
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following
records:
Any and all arrest logs and files from in the 0.75 mile radius of the Mass Ave/ Melnea
Cass Boulevard area -as defined by the city’s 311 dashboard website- between July
1,2024 - December 31, 2024, which include any of the words: “encampment”,
“camping”, “tent”, “unhoused”, “homeless”,“drug”, “drugs”, “substance”,
“substances”, “needle”, “needles”, “alcohol”, “pipe”,”pipes”, or cite city ordinance
16-66: UNLAWFUL CAMPING ON PUBLIC PROPERTY.
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, and is not made for commercial usage.
In the event that there are fees, 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 .
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to
receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Cassie Hurd
Upload documents directly:
https://www.muckrock.com/
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Fboston-police-department-174%252Fbpd-arrest-logs-for-newmarket-area-180870%252
F%253Femail%253Dshawn.williams%252540boston.gov&url_auth_token=AAAj3RLM_
hDJU1XzD-dhVuyRLsY%3A1tfTyi%3Aij6APjLQcF_i6B0BcnobCp3bpzjGHVKXwVoa4fD
bj14

Your request does not comply with the public records law because it is overly broad and vague.
The Public Records Law requires that the request provide a reasonable description of records
sought. See G.L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i). In Chawla, the superior court found that under the Public
Records Law “the reasonable description requirement contemplates that a requesting party will
identify documents or categories of documents with sufficient particularity that government
employees will be able to understand exactly what they are looking for, and then make a prompt
production.” See Jaideep Chawla v. Dept. of Revenue, Suffolk Sup. No. 1784CV02087, at 2
(January 23, 2019). The Court further indicated that “requests for documents that are articulated
with very broad language that calls upon non-lawyer administrative personnel to interpret the
scope of what is sought, and then make fine judgments about what documents are and are not
sufficiently related to the category of materials requested, will not (emphasis added) satisfy this
statutory standard.” Id.
In addition to the requirement that the request identify with specificity the records sought, the
requester also must act in a reasonable manner so as not to overburden the public entity with
complying with the request. See Friedman v. Division of Administrative Law Appeal and
Bureau of Special Education Appeals, Suffolk Sup. No. 2284CV02061-C, at 3 (February 14,
2023).

Although you identify the records that you are looking for, this description does not meet the
statutory standard that records be identified with sufficient particularity. The description you
provide is too broad and vague. You are requesting “Any and all arrest logs and files” for a six
month period in a geographic area. The Department would need to pull the records and review
six months worth of police reports to determine responsiveness. This would require
administrative personnel to interpret the scope of what is sought, and then make fine judgments
about what documents are and are not sufficiently related to the category of materials requested;
therefore, this request does not satisfy the statutory standard of reasonable description of records.
See Chawla, Suffolk Sup. No. 1784CV02087, at 2.
In Freidman, the Court focused on the reasonableness standard contemplated throughout the
Public Records Law. The Court recognized that the reasonable description requirement is
necessary under the Public Records Law because the intent of the law “was not intended to
reduce government agencies to full-time investigators on behalf of requestors.” Friedman
quoting Assassination Archives & Research Ctr., Inc. v. Central Intelligence Agency, 720 F.
Supp. 217, 219 (D.D.C. 1989). The Department would need to review six months worth of
police reports. This is too burdensome for the Department to meet the "reasonably describes”
requirement. In addition to reviewing the reports to determine responsiveness, the Department
would need to review all the records to see if there is anything that needs to be redacted under
statutes such as juvenile information, arrests involving minors, Criminal Offender Record
Information, or incidents related to sexual assault. The Department will also need to review the
records to see if there is any personal identifying information related to specific individuals or
anything identifying potential witnesses which may need to be removed under Exemptions C and
F under the Public Records Law.
This request does not comply with the Public Records Law because the request is seeking
records that are articulated with broad language and it does not describe the record with
sufficient particularity. It is unclear what specific records you are requesting. Therefore, the
request does not comply with the reasonable statutory standard and is burdensome on the
Department. This request will be closed.
We encourage you to consider narrowing your request. You may wish to modify or clarify your
request to provide sufficient particularity, including narrowing the time period or identifying
specific incidents to enable the search to be processed. You may also review incident and obtain
other public safety datasets by visiting https://data.boston.gov/group/public-safety
In the event the City were able to determine the intended scope of your request, it is likely the
City would have to provide a fee estimate given the likely volume of the potentially responsive
records and the need for redaction or segregation of those records.
Should you seek specific records I encourage you to visit the City's public records portal.

https://bostonma.govqa.us/WEBAPP/_rs/(S(4ihmrhaxyjn0l4fkagn2d4jn))/supporthome.aspx
Accordingly, this matter is now closed.