Police Department Hopes to Move Daily Log Online

The week of March 11-17 is Sunshine Week. As explained on the Sunshine Week website,"Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information." In that mindset we spoke to the Hopkinton Police Department about one of their public records, the daily logs.

According to Massachusetts General Law chapter 41 section 98F all police departments are required to keep a daily log available to the public.

“All entries in said daily logs shall, unless otherwise provided in law, be public records available without charge to the public during regular business hours and at all other reasonable times,” the law says.

At the dispatchers will provide the log for anyone that asks for it, without even needing a reason, Police Sergeant Joseph Bennett said.

If anyone comes in and asks for it we’ll give it to them no questions asked,” he said. “But we don’t keep a printed copy in the lobby because we’re trying to save paper.”

Bennett said the department hopes that in the near future they can make the log even easier to get.

“We’re trying to make it available online so that anyone can access it 24/7 from home, that way we the dispatchers can worry about answering the phones and their job without having to take the time to print it out for everyone that comes in,” Bennett said.

There is currently no timeline for the project because the town’s information technology office is working on other projects, but Bennet said it is in the queue.