SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY Rachael Rollins released a prosecutorial watch list Friday night with the names of 136 law enforcement officials who have been indicted or charged on federal offenses or been accused of or engaged in misconduct. The Law Enforcement Automatic Discovery database is more commonly known as a “Brady List” after a 1963 Supreme Court decision requiring prosecutors to turn over any information that […]
Public Records
Posted inCriminal Justice
Costly connections
AFTER 10 YEARS behind bars, Jurrell Laronal looks back and remembers calls to his partner and stepchildren as one of the few things that kept him sane while bouncing between maximum and medium security prisons in Massachusetts. “It’s everything,” he said toweling off after a workout at his workplace, Quincy’s Crossfit Trifecta MMA. “When you’re […]
Posted inUncategorized
Regulator: Enough is enough with record requests
STATE REGULATORS are starting to say enough is enough when it comes to people who file an unusually large number of public records requests. Rebecca Murray, the state’s supervisor of public records, previously ruled in favor of Wellesley and Natick officials who sought permission not to fulfill public records requests filed by people whose motivation […]
Posted inUncategorized
Senate tweaks disability bill to preserve records access
AFTER ADVOCATES FOR people with disabilities raised concerns about a proposal to broaden a public records exemption related to abuse investigations, which was included in a bill voted on Thursday in the state Senate, senators appear to have resolved those concerns. CommonWealth reported that a bill focused on disability-related terminology also included a provision limiting […]
Posted inUncategorized
Advocates sound alarm over proposed limits on abuse reports
UNCOVERING ABUSE AGAINST people with disabilities may become more difficult, advocates worry, under a provision tucked into a seemingly innocuous bill slated for a vote in the state Senate on Thursday. The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Keenan, modernizes language about people with disabilities in state law. But it also contains a section that limits […]
Posted inUncategorized
Government gadfly extraordinaire
RONALD ALEXANDER of Wellesley says he files open meeting law complaints and public records requests as a hobby, but some think that hobby has morphed into an obsession. Alexander has filed so many open meeting law complaints with Attorney General Maura Healey that she recently took the unheard of step of refusing to process the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
State police sought to destroy Logan pay records
STATE POLICE OFFICIALS tried to destroy 12 boxes of payroll files for detail and roster assignments involving its embattled division at Logan Airport but were blocked because of the ongoing investigation into overtime abuse that has rocked the department and triggered dozens of retirements. Maj. Charles Atchison of Logan’s Troop F submitted a form to […]
Posted inThe Back Story
How Capeless plotted succession plan
DAVID CAPELESS WORKED CLOSELY with Gov. Charlie Baker to choreograph the handoff of his job as Berkshire Country district attorney to a top aide, going so far as to pull nomination papers for himself to throw reporters off the scent. Emails obtained from the district attorney’s office under the Public Records Law indicate Capeless was concerned that reporters might […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers refuse to release records
THE LEGISLATURE, THE GOVERNOR, and the judiciary are all exempt in one way or another from the state’s Public Records Law, but the governor and the judiciary sometimes voluntarily comply with requests for information. By contrast, lawmakers take the view that their records are off-limits to the public. CommonWealth tested the willingness of officials from […]
Posted inUncategorized
On records, State Police all about delay
THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE are not a big fan of transparency, as the agency’s policy on public records seems to be all about delay. The State Police regularly redact documents or withhold them in their entirety from public view. The approach results in a voluminous amount of public records appeals being filed against the agency […]