NEWS

Brockton struggle over secret police report an oddity of public records system

Staff Reporter
The Enterprise
James Casieri, Brockton Buildings Superintendent.

BROCKTON – For the last three months, attorneys for the city and a top official have been in Brockton Superior Court trying to keep secret a police report.

James Casieri – the city’s superintendent of buildings – is the plaintiff, seeking an injunction against the release of the results of a 2012 investigation that began when a city employee accused Casieri of “potential criminal activity.”

On the other side is Police Chief John Crowley, representing the Brockton Police Department. The city’s law department, which has argued the report should be secret, is now defending Crowley against the injunction.

In doing so, the city’s attorneys are continuing to argue the report should not be made public – meaning the plaintiff and defendant are working toward the same goal. There are two parties seeking disclosure – including the state – but until recently neither was officially a party to the case.

“I’m the only one that asked for transparency,” said Ron Matta, a former mayoral candidate who requested the report last summer and who earlier this month was granted status as a co-defendant. “The state is doing nothing as far as I can I see.”

Matta is not alone in his concern about the state failing to be transparent about public records, and also failing to fight for transparency when those records are ruled public.

The Enterprise and many other newspapers in Massachusetts urged lawmakers this spring to revamp the state’s public records law, noting that it has been largely untouched since 1973.

The Boston Globe, for instance, found that before 2015, Secretary of State William Galvin ruled in favor of the public’s right to know in only 27 percent of the cases. And, even when rulings favor public disclosure, there has been little enforcement.

Galvin has claimed that former Attorney General Martha Coakley essentially ignored his requests to enforce the law. The AG’s office, by state law, has the power to enforce public records rulings.

Current Attorney General Maura Healey has said she would err on the side of more disclosure. But, as of Friday, the AG’s office reported it did not have any open referrals from the supervisor of the Public Records Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Shawn Williams, the head of that office, ruled in March that the police report about Casieri should be a public document. Since then, the city has filed another appeal, using a different legal strategy to keep the the report secret.

That appeal is pending and a status conference scheduled for this week was moved to August as a result. Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Galvin, said his office had no comment on the Casieri case.

Casieri was abruptly placed on paid administrative leave in November 2012 over a “personnel matter.” Last summer, The Enterprise reported that city officials were staying quiet about the matter and that they denied a public records request for more information on Casieri’s six-week leave.

Matta said he initiated his public records request last year because city officials were being secretive. On Friday, he said he did not object to moving the conference until August, pending another ruling, but that he is disappointed the state is not defending its March decision in favor of disclosure.

“I speak for the people and the fact that somebody has to speak up for transparency in this state because they very rarely give out information,” Matta said. “It’s about time somebody stood up and said, ‘Why are you keeping this secret when it’s supposed to be a public record?”

Casieri has declined to speak publicly about the situation. In a court filing, he argued the report’s release would ‘irreparably” harm his reputation.

Mayor Bill Carpenter, who re-appointed Casieri to a three-year term in April 2014, previously said he could not comment, saying that he had “no first-hand knowledge” about what happened.