Mayor Menino Refuses to Release Report

Two Boston Globe columnists have written columns about Mayor Menino's refusal to release a report on the Boston Police Department and his refusal to consider setting up some form of civilian oversight of the Boston Police Department. Derek Z. Jackson's column, Menino Manages to Fan Flames of Mistrust," appears online today; Adrian Walker's column, "An Open Review," appeared in yesterday's Globe.

According to Walker, the Menino Administration is claiming that the eight-months-old report is a "draft" that falls outside of the "Freedom of Information Act." I think he, Walker, meant to say the Massachusetts Public Records Law, but you get the picture. (Unless of course, the Menino Administration thinks the Federal Freedom of Information Act applies to its public records.)

My guess is the Menino Administration is claiming the report is exempt from the Massachusetts Public Record Law because it comes under the deliberative process exemption, which exempts any "inter-agency or intra-agency memoranda or letters relating to policy positions being developed by the agency" from the definition of public records. The exemption, however, does not apply to "reasonably completed factual studies or reports on which the development of such policy positions has been or may be based."

Of course, the Menino Administration could release the report if they wanted to, even if its release was not required by the Massachusetts Public Records Law. Apparently, they feel that what the public does not know, will not hurt them. So much for democracy in the claimed "birthplace of democracy." (Or is the birthplace of democracy Philadelphia?)