See the previous post Boston Public Records Log for the requests from 2017 through 2020.
]]>These are personnel orders from the Boston Police Department (BPD). There are 4,284 pages here; they document promotions, commendations, retirements, firings, instances of officers being disciplined, and more.
These records were originally requested by the Boston Globe and used in a series of articles 1 2 3 4 5.
I made a public records request to the City of Boston for the files sent to the Globe.
My public records request: R000549-032621.pdf
The files: bpd_personnel_orders_2010_through_2020.zip
]]>I will keep the site running for the foreseeable future, but I won’t be posting any new content. I expect the site will become less and less useful as the data ages.
The source code for Woke Windows is available on GitHub and all the data sources we used to create the site are available on the data sources page.
Thank you to everyone who gave me advice, contributed code, and otherwise lent a hand!!!
– Nathan
P.S. If you’ve built something similar to Woke Windows that people may find useful, reach out, and I’ll add a link to it here.
]]>IAPro is a software package for managing internal affairs cases that is used by many police departments in Massachusetts, including the Boston Police Department, and the State Police. See the IAPro list of clients; they have hundreds around the world.
I am particularly interested in collecting, through public records requests, internal affairs and discipline data from Massachusetts police departments. In that pursuit, understanding the software that stores these records is crucial.
To that end, working from the list of IAPro clients, I made public records requests to four municipalities, asking for “documentation, user guides, administration manuals, and similar documents” related to the IAPro and BlueTeam software products.
I posted below the requests I made and the responses I received. The most interesting are IAProManual.pdf and IAPro_Administrator’s_Manual.pdf, both provided by Somerville.
I am waiting on a response from Fall River
Did you find this post useful? I’d love to hear from you, and don’t forget to follow me @nathan_story on Twitter!
]]>Previously, Woke Windows just had the traffic tickets written in 2019. Now we have data spanning the years 2011 through 2020.
These records have fields indicating: the Boston Police officer who wrote the ticket, the location where the ticket was written, the race and sex of the driver, and much more.
There is a discrepancy between the 2019 dataset and the new 2011 - 2020 dataset.
There are 119 citations that appear in the 2019 dataset but do not appear in the new data.
I haven’t identified a pattern to explain why these citations disappeared. If you have a theory, or if you have more MassDOT traffic ticket data I could compare against, please reach out!
There are a few ways you can access this data:
Finally, if you are a developer, the source code is available on GitHub at nstory/boston_pd_citations and nstory/wokewindows.
Thank you to Josh Raisler Cohn for making the public records request for this data and sharing the response with me.
]]>Using this database, you can search appeals made to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, including the text of determinations issued by the Commonwealth’s Supervisor of Records (while the Commonwealth does provide a page for searching appeals, it does not allow for full text searches).
A requestor of public records will typically file an appeal when an agency or municipality does not respond to a request, denies access to a record, or is otherwise unreasonable. The Supervisor will then weigh in, and, if the agency is not complying with the law, issue an order for the agency to do so. See A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law for the full story.
The appeals are full of useful information that can inform your own public records requests.
Are you curious what stories the Boston Globe is working on? Search the database for appeals containing “boston globe”.
Are you interested in the files available from some agency, but don’t know what to ask for? Search the database for appeals relating to that agency (e.g. The Board of Registration in Medicine) and read the decisions; see what other requestors ask for.
Yes!
As an example, I’ll show you how I was able to use this database to get the Internal Affairs log for the Everett Police Department.
First run a search for everett police internal affairs:
Of the cases returned, Appeal #20201532 is particularly interesting. According to the determiniation spr201532.pdf, it regards a request for “all alleged misconduct complaints filed with the Everett Police Department during calendar years 2010 through 2019.”
The last paragraph of the determination orders “A copy of any such response must be provided to this office.”
This means it’s likely the Supervisor of Records now has a copy of these files. So, I sent a public records request to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Records Access Officer:
Six days later I received a response:
Download the Everett SPR20/1356 and SPR20/1532 files
Why is this exciting? For the original requester to get these files, he went through a two month process including two appeals. We were able to get the same files in a fraction of the time.
It won’t always be the case that the Supervisor of Records will have an electronic copy of an agency’s response. In those cases, you can either:
Have any questions, comments, ideas? Reach out to me @nathan_story or by email nstory (at) wokewindows (dot) org.
I’ve posted those responses below.
The most interesting are problably:
Unfortunately, all the responses are PDF documents, so, analysis/parsing is going to be a pain.
R001148-121020_Message_History.pdf
Ref. No. | Close Date | Description | Files |
B000971-070120 | 9/3/20 | Any/all logs/lists of internal investigation cases of police department employees from Jan. 1, 2000 through present (note: 2010 to present was actually supplied), including but not limited to pending cases. Please include the current disposition of each case, as well as any final disciplinary action linked to complaint. | B000971-070120_Response.pdf |
B001174-080520 | 8/5/20 | We saw in a State House News story today (see below) that BPD recently provided some figures/data to the State House News Service regarding overtime spending for the recent protests. Wondering if BPD would be able to forward us that same data today since it's already been pulled. | B001174-080520_Response.pdf |
R001147-121020_Message_History.pdf
Ref. No. | Close Date | Department | Public Record Desired | Files |
B001814-111220 | 11/13/20 | Law Department | Please provide me with a copy of the court complaint f led by Sergeant Beth Donovan against the Boston Po ice Department (BPD) and BPD’s response. | B1814_response_letter.pdf B1814_responsive_record.pdf |
R000230-061620 | 7/1/20 | Law Department | I am requesting information about state and federal civil rights claims (including but not limited to excessive force, false arrest and wrongful conviction claims) settled between the city and plaintiffs between January 1, 2015 and June 16, 2020. Please provide the fo lowing information about those claims on an Excel spreadsheet under these headings and in the fo lowing order: Plaintiff v. Defendant; docket number; venue; plaintiff’s attorney; date of settlement; and amount of settlement. Please return the list via electronic mail. If you estimate that the total cost for copying and responding to this request pursuant to the statute and applicable regulations w ll exceed $35, please provide me with an estimate of the charges in advance of processing my request. If you claim that any of the material requested is exempt from disclosure in whole or in part, please identify the exemption(s) claimed and the nature of the material for which any exemption is claimed. Because disclosure of the records requested would be in the pub ic interest, I request a waiver of fees as provided by 950 C.M.R. 32.06(5). As you know, the State Freedom of Information Act requires access to be provided "without unreasonable delay," and in any event within 10 days. Mass. Gen. Laws c.66, §10(a). If you have any questions about this request, please do not hesitate to contact me at XXX-XXX-XXXX. | R230_response_letter.pdf R230_responsive_record_2010.pdf R230_responsive_record_2015.pdf |
R000302-063020 | 8/12/20 | Administration and Finance | (The following is from two (2) separate email requests) I wanted to make a records request for payroll data for the Boston Police Department. I’ll also send a separate email for a similar request for other city departments. I am seeking an electronic copy of the following payroll data for the BDP:Name, Job Title, Department, Postal Code, Annual Pay Rate, Gender, Race or Ethnic Group, Union Status (Union or nonunion), bargaining group (BPPA, Superior Officers, etc), sworn officer or civilian, Start Date, Service Date, Annual Rate, and whether the employee is Full or Part Time.One point of clarification: Service Date versus Start Date. I believe that service date is the first time someone was hired by the city and start date is the most recent time someone was hired by the city. If that is incorrect, let me know. -- Here is the second request I mentioned. I wanted to make a records request for payroll data for all other city departments, including fire and schools. (I requested the same data for the police department in my previous ema l). I am seeking an electronic copy of the following payroll data:Name, Job Title, Department, Postal Code, Annual Pay Rate, Gender, Race or Ethnic Group, Union Status (Union or nonunion), bargaining group, Start Date, Service Date, Annual Rate, and whether the employee is Full or Part Time. | R302_response_letter.pdf R302_responsive_record.pdf |
R000864-102320 | 10/29/20 | Law Department | Do you have a list of city of Boston payouts/settlements paid for cases of po ice misconduct for the last three years? I am looking for confirmation of a settlement the city made with Frederick Clay, among others. | R864_response_letter.pdf R864_responsive_record.pdf |
R000873-102620 | 10/29/20 | Law Department | I'd ike to request the settlement amount for Suffolk Civ l case 1584CV000903. I'm looking for the settlement amount for this case and any other related to Danielle Cough in Vs Robert Tully, who is a former Boston police officer. | R873_response_letter.pdf |
R000894-102820 | 11/3/20 | Office of Human Resources | I am seeking data/records from the payroll department regarding the hours BPD Detective Robert M. Tu ly worked in 2014. This is a request for the human resource/payroll department, not the police department. Here is what I'm seeking: I would like the total number of hours that Robert M. Tu ly worked in 2014 before his retirement in July 2014. In addition, I would l ke a breakdown of Tully's 2014 hours. I want to know how many hours he was 1) at work being paid regular time, 2) at work being paid OT, and 3) paid while he was on leave. Payroll records show Tu ly earned $40,520.79 in regular pay, $22,202.42 in OT, and $37,519.66 in 'other' pay. I want to confirm that the regular pay and OT was for time he was at work in 2014 and that other pay was for sick or vacation buyback. | R894_response_letter.pdf R894_responsive_record_-_2014_earnings.pdf R894_responsive_record_-_time_and_labor.pdf |
R000904-102920 | 11/13/20 | Law Department | I am seeking information and data related to crashes or accidents involving city-owned vehicles. This request w ll be primarily for the Law Department, although I am seeking information about all city vehicles, including departments that operate out of City Hall, police, fire, and schools. Specifically I am seeking electronic records or data documenting all insurance payouts and civil lawsuits settlements since Jan 1, 2010. By “insurance payouts” I am referring to the City’s self-insurance for vehicles and any payments the City had to make to other individuals or insurance companies. The records or data I’m seeking should include: 1) CRA-65 crash reports or other reports or data that include the following information -Name of the city employee driving, title, department - Names of other involved drivers or individuals -Date and time of accident -Description of accident -location of accident -Description of any citations that includes offense and citation number 2) Details of any insurance payout or financial settlement that include: -amount of payment -date of payment -name of payee -name of city employee, title, department -corresponding civil court docket number or other case number or reference numbers 3) Details of any other civil lawsuit or claim stemming from a motor vehicle accident in which the city Law Department defended a city employee even if there was no insurance payout or financial settlement. This data should include: --name of city employee, title, department --name of other driver involved --corresponding civil court docket number or other case number or reference numbers I’m happy to discuss this request if it is overly broad or otherwise cumbersome. I’m hoping that much of this information may be available in a Law Department case tracking file and/or a ledger of insurance payouts and settlements. If the CRA-65 crash reports prove difficult, let’s discuss another way to get that that same information. My number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank you, Andrew | R904_response_letter.pdf R904_responsive_record.pdf |
R000905-102920 | 10/29/20 | Public Records | I am requesting information from the city about payments made to settle cases of alleged police misconduct for each of the last five years, including recipient’s name and the amount of payment by City of Boston. I believe this information is readily available and hope that you could provide it soon. | R905_response_letter.pdf R905_responsive_record.pdf |
R000938-110420 | 11/13/20 | COB Press Office | I wanted to request some data/records from the payroll department regarding the hours BPD Officer Sandro Fonseca worked from 12/12/2013 until he left BPD in 2018. This is a request for the human resource/payroll department, not the police department. Here is what I'm seeking: I would like a breakdown of the hours Sandro Fonseca worked and what he was paid for from 12/12/2013 until he left BPD in 2018. I want would l ke to know how many hours he was 1) at work being paid regular time, 2) at work being paid OT, 3) paid while he was on leave 4) paid while on injury leave. I would also like a breakdown of any sick, personal, or vacation buyback. As always, happy to discuss: XXX-XXX-XXXX. | R938_response_letter.pdf R938_responsive_record.pdf |