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File:Massachusetts Parking Authority Police patch.png

Original file (9,000 × 8,000 pixels, file size: 22.11 MB, MIME type: image/png)

Summary

Description
English: Digital illustration of the shoulder patch of the now-defunct Massachusetts Parking Authority Police (MPAP). This is a digital illustration of the shoulder patch worn by MPAP personnel as of their 1982 disbandment.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DISCLOSURE:

This image was digitally created by-hand, but was upscaled using AI-upscaling. Post-upscaling, the image was reviewed by the author to ensure no detail was lost, obscured, changed, or otherwise altered in any way which would alter the author's original intent. Non-AI-upscaled versions are available; to obtain, please contact the author.
Date
Source Own work
Author MWFwiki
Permission
(Reusing this file)

"File:Massachusetts Parking Authority Police patch.png" is a digital illustration/reproduction of a law enforcement agency's shoulder patch wholly created by myself ("the artist"). This now-defunct agency was (formerly) a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The original shoulder patch is — in the artist's opinion — in the public domain within the United States because it was a Commonwealth of Massachusetts public record disseminated by a Commonwealth agency or the Massachusetts Archives. Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth has stated that such works can be copied and used for any purpose. This copyright does not extend to those records created, received, or under the custody of municipalities by M. G. L. c. 66, § 7, unless otherwise stated, nor does this apply to copy-written materials for commercial purposes received by employees of the Commonwealth.

This is consistent with the analysis made by the Harvard Library at [1] (original), [2] (archived).

Regardless of the copyright status of the original shoulder patch, the artist asserts that "File:Massachusetts Parking Authority Police patch.png" was independently created utilizing said shoulder patch as a model and was created for educational and illustration purposes, only. The artist relinquishes any and all rights to "File:Massachusetts Parking Authority Police patch.png" in perpetuity.

For questions regarding the legality of re-use, reproduction, or other uses, consulting a qualified copyright attorney (or equivalent) in your jurisdiction is recommended. The author of this permission statement is not providing legal advice. By re-using, reproducing, or otherwise utilizing this image in any way, the user assumes full responsibility for ensuring the legality of their actions, both criminally and civilly. In re-using, reproducing, or otherwise utilizing this image in any way, no relationship is established between the uploader of this image, the author of this permission statement, and/or any user(s) of this image or derivatives thereof.
Other versions https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Massachusetts_Parking_Authority_Police_SVG.svg#%7B%7Bint%3Afiledesc%7D%7D

Licensing

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:
Creative Commons CC-Zero This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was a Commonwealth of Massachusetts public record disseminated by a Commonwealth agency or the Massachusetts Archives. Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth has stated that such works can be copied and used for any purpose. This copyright does not extend to those records created, received, or under the custody of municipalities by M. G. L. c. 66, § 7, unless otherwise stated, nor does this apply to copy-written materials for commercial purposes received by employees of the Commonwealth.
Language describing permissions

A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) can be found at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf and page 7 says:

"With the exception of situations in which a records custodian is withholding records pursuant to Exemption (n), inquiries into a requester's status or motivation for seeking information are expressly prohibited. [1] Consequently, all requests for public records, even if made for a commercial purpose or to assist the requester in a lawsuit against the holder of the records, must be honored in accordance with the Public Records Law."

  1. ↑ See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (public records are to be provided to “any person”); see also 950 CMR 32.05(5) (custodian prohibited from inquiring into a requester’s status or motivation); but see G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(n) (a records custodian may ask the requester to voluntarily provide additional information in order to reach a “reasonable judgment” regarding disclosure of responsive records).
Definition of "public record"

Public records are defined in A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf on page 40, under M. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26) as:

all books, papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any authority established by the general court to serve a public purpose, or any person, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity which receives or expends public funds for the payment or administration of pensions for any current or former employees of the commonwealth or any political subdivision as defined in section 1 of chapter 32, unless such materials or data fall within the following exemptions found on page 40

Limitations of template usage

This is consistent with the statement at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ARC/arcres/residx.htm:

"Those records created by Massachusetts government agencies and institutions held by the Massachusetts Archives are not copyrighted and are available for public use. Copyright for materials submitted to state agencies may be held by the person or organization that created the document."

Note: Works that are considered "public records" but were not created by a state or municipal government agency may be copyrighted by their author; the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents state law from overriding the author's right to copyright protection that is granted by federal law. For example, a state agency may post images online of the final appearance of a building under construction; while the images may be "public records", their creator (eg. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to the image unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. See: Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: To what extent does federal law preempt state law regarding public inspection of records?.
Disclaimer: The information provided, especially the list of agencies permitted to claim copyright, may not be complete. Wikimedia Commons makes no guarantee of the adequacy or validity of this information in this template (see disclaimer).

Massachusetts seal

Captions

Digital illustration of the shoulder patch of the now-defunct Massachusetts Parking Authority Police (MPAP). The MPAP was disbanded in 1982.

inception

4 April 2025

media type

image/png

data size

23,182,366 byte

height

8,000 pixel

width

9,000 pixel

checksum

4f3b867188c4b6c77b157d4a677fb39a7813b48b

determination method or standard: SHA-1

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current02:21, 28 July 2025Thumbnail for version as of 02:21, 28 July 20259,000 × 8,000 (22.11 MB)MWFwikiBackground removed
00:15, 5 April 2025Thumbnail for version as of 00:15, 5 April 20259,000 × 8,000 (22.11 MB)MWFwikiUploaded own work with UploadWizard

Metadata

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