Alan N. Core

   
 

   

 

 




A.

 
   

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth
Public Records Division 

Supervisor ofRecamir

August 27, 2010


Captain Joseph W. Koncas
Northampton Police Department
29 Center Street

Northampton, MA 01060-3090

Dear Mr. Crowley:

I have received the petition of Daniel J. Crowley, of the Daily Hampshire Gazette,
appealing the response of the Northampton Police Department (Department) to his June
2010 request for public records. G. L. c. 66 10(b) (2008 See gls_o 950 C.M.R.
3208(2). Speci?cally, Mr. Crowley requested the booking photo, also known as a mug
Shot, of Phillip Huckelberry acobsen. The Department denied Mr. Crowley?s request,
claiming that the photo is exempt as Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI). G. .
L. c. 6, 172 (2008 ed); G. L. c. 4, 7 (26) (2008 ed).

To justify your denial, you provided to this office copies of slides presented by
the Criminal History Systems Board indicating that a photograph that identi?es an
individual is a document that includes CORI. A record may not be considered as CORI
unless it is created subsequent to the ?ling of the complaint. Smith V. Eliot Savings
355 Mass. 543 at 548 (1969); _s_e_e als_o ERIC D. BLUMENSON STANLEY Z. FISHER,
DANIEL KANSTROOM, MASSACHUSETTS LEGAL PRACTICE LIBRARY VOLUMES 1 2:
MASSACHUSETTS CRIMINAL PRACTICE (1998 ed. as supplemented 2003). 

The photo was taken subsequent to the arrest of Mr. Jacobson, but prior to the
?ling of the criminal complaint against him. For a record to be considered the
record must be created subsequent to the initiation of criminal proceedings. This means
that a photo may be but not all photos are CORI by default. -

One Ashburton Place, 17th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 - (617) 727?2832 - Fax (617) 727?5914



Captain Joseph W. Koncas 152
Page 
August 27, 2010?

Whereas the booking photo of Mr. Jacobson was taken prior to the initiation 0f
criminal proceedings, it is a public record and may not be withheld as CORI. This
?nding does not conflict with the training materials that you provided, but the ?nding
does illustrate that every record must be reviewed on acase-by-case basis to determine its
status under the Public Records Law, as there are no blanket exemptions. Reinstein v.
Police Comm?r of Boston, 378 Mass. 281, 289-90 (1979); Supervisor of Public Records
Bulletin 3-03 Public Records Requests and CORI (November 21, 2003). This appeal is
now closed.

truly ur

Alan N. Cote
Supervisor of Records

cc: Mr. Daniel J. Crowley