and Equality (DARE or plaintiff), an incorporated, non-profit community action group based in Providence, Rhode Island, brought an action pursuant to the Access to Public Records Act, G.L. 1956 chapter 2 of title 38 (APRA), to compel the defendant, Bernard E. Gannon, in his official capacity as Chief of Police of the City of Providence (city or defendant), to produce various documents relating to civilian complaints of police misconduct. Both the plaintiff and the defendant appealed the order of the trial justice in this matter, and those appeals were consolidated for a single disposition by this Court. We also note that this is the second appeal heard by this Court concerning the current action. See Direct Action for Rights and Equality v. Gannon, 713 A.2d 218, 225 (R.I.1998) (DARE I) (<HOLDING>). The facts pertinent to the immediate appeal
holding that claims against a city police chief in his official capacity were really claims against the city holding that pursuant to the best evidence rule trial testimony relying on documents was inadmissible without submission of such documents or an explanation as to why the documents were unavailable holding that the city must provide to dare certain requested documents with only directly identifying factors redacted such as the names of the complainants and officers against whom the complaints were made holding that the city had standing to challenge the constitutionality of a statute allowing certain communities within the same county as the city to incorporate as towns without the citys consent holding that it was appropriate for the district court to refer to the documents attached to the motion to dismiss since the documents were referred to in the complaint