PITTSFIELD— Two local defense lawyers are suing the city, claiming the Police Department ignored public record requests for materials related to body-worn cameras.
The new lawsuit comes on the tail of a similar claim the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts brought against the city, which it settled on May 8, court records say. It also coincides with comments from the mayor and newly appointed permanent police chief, who say new systems are being tested to improve how the department handles requests for public records.
The newest complaint, filed May 6 in Berkshire Superior Court by attorneys Ryan D. Smith and Brian T. Horan, alleges the department ignored their records requests — even after the state directed officials to respond.
On Jan. 11, Horan requested a copy of the department's "policies, procedures, directives and other documents" that were given to officers surrounding the use of body-worn cameras, according to his complaint.
The city did not respond to Horan's records request, the suit alleges, so the lawyer appealed to the state Supervisor of Records Manza Arthur, who handles public records appeals within the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin.
Arthurordered the department's records access officer to respond on Feb. 6, but that did not happen, according to the lawsuit.
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The city "not only violated the [public records] statute, but also thumbed its nose at the state official who is charged with enforcing the Public Records Law," the complaint reads.
The second part of the lawsuit pertains to a records request made by Smith, who represents resident Robert Alan Czubryt. Smith says in the complaint that police came to his client's residence July 3. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the "troubling" event beyond saying that it is still under investigation and "highlights how people who are of lesser economic means are not treated the same."
On Oct. 17, Smith filed a records request seeking body-worn camera footage of the incident and policies and directives related to police well-being checks. Smith said he received a response from the department's records access officer on Nov. 28 that pointed him to the city's website for the policies, and indicated he would receive the footage "ASAP" after paying a $5 fee.
Smith said his firm paid the fee the same day; but the department still never produced the footage. So he too appealed to Galvin's office, which ordered the department to issue Smith a response. No response came, he said.
"They just plainly didn't answer anything. It was like crickets," Smith said. "It's egregious how they're treating public records requests in the Pittsfield Police Department."
Residents are entitled to know how police officers are trained to use their body-worn cameras, Horan said.
"By law, the public has a right to know what the police department expects from its officers using body worn cameras," he said in a statement. "Transparency is especially important given the critical role these cameras play in documenting how police interact with the community."
Police Chief Thomas Dawley, who was permanently appointed to the position on Wednesday after nearly a year as interim chief, said he is investigating why the records requests were never fulfilled.
"We’re trying to go over what happened in this whole request; we thought we provided everything to these attorneys," Dawley said. "Then we found out through this lawsuit that we didn’t get everything.”
Mayor Peter Marchetti said Wednesday that the body-worn camera policy will be on the city's website "within the next month or two." He declined to comment on why the records weren't produced in the normal course via the state's public records law.
"I have no idea given the fact that I was not involved. I'm not even going to make the slightest guess as to why," he said.
"I am ensuring that we put a system in place that will improve the system for people to get public records requests," he added.
Marchetti said the department is going to adopt the city's web-based publicrecords request portalin order to improve compliance.Dawley, however, said he wants to pilot the system first.
"We're going to give it a test run to make sure it works for for the Police Department and our for records clerks," he said.
The ACLU sued the city in December 2022 after the Police Department failed to respond to records requests it filed in 2020 and 2021, during the tenure of former Chief Michael Wynn.
The requests sought "records of interactions between Pittsfield police officers and private individuals, from stops and frisks to traffic stops to arrests," according to the lawsuit.
"The City’s failure to respond and adhere to the Public Records Law degrades public confidence in government," the suit read.
The ACLU and the city settled the lawsuit last month, after city Solicitor Stephen Pagnotta said the city worked with the nonprofit to "refine" its request, then provided the documents.
“We were able to work with them and provide them what we could,” Pagnotta said.
Dawley emphasized the department's failure to complete the requests was not done "maliciously."
"We want to fulfill these requests," he said. "When you're getting sued, it's not a good feeling. It's not a good look for the city of Pittsfield."
