Dear New Brunswick City,

Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA, Title 39, and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.

I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.

I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.

I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.

Records requested: Copies of all crash reports and criminal complaints related to fatal crashes that occurred in the year 2024 and were investigated by municipal police.

My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.

Yours faithfully,

Charlie Kratovil

Dear New Brunswick City,

Please confirm if you received my request titled "2024 Fatal Crash Reports and Charges Filed." What is the status of this request?

Yours faithfully,

Charlie Kratovil

Dear Ms. Zeledon,
Thank you for the records provided. Unfortunately, Captain Shah's letter is incoherent. The city's position relies on a state statute, N.J.S.A. 39:4-131, to justify the $5 administrative fee. However, the city's position also ignores another portion of the same statute, which states: reports "and the information contained therein shall not be privileged or held confidential." This inconsistency is not legal and should the city continue to attempt to enforce this untenable position, we will have to take the matter to a higher authority. Even though my pushback on the city's position regarding crash report requests has caused the NBPD and Law Department to change their policy twice in the past few months, the city government has resisted communicating openly with me. I've requested meetings with both the Law Department and the Police Department on this topic and my requests have been ignored. Madame Clerk, would you be willing to meet with me to discuss my concerns?

Yours sincerely,

Charlie Kratovil

Dear Ms. Zeledon,

It is regrettable that you declined to acknowledge my meeting request, so I will continue to put my concerns in writing.

To be crystal clear, I have requested the relevant records as email attachments, and therefore I will not need to pay any fee for them. Please be guided by James Donato v. Jersey City Police Department, a Government Records Council case that makes it clear that the $5.00 fee "may only be added to the enumerated OPRA copying rates listed in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.b. to cover the administrative costs of *mailing* the reports when the records request is not made in person" (emphasis added).

It is improper for the city to charge a fee for the *mailing* of reports when you are not mailing them. You can send emails free of charge, so I ask that you provide the records without a fee.

As for redactions, I've repeatedly asked the NBPD to name the specific cases that they believe apply the Driver's Privacy Protection Act to municipal police departments and/or the information on NJ-TR1 reports. If you also are unwilling to name such a case for the record, then I would ask that you provide unredacted records. However, if you must insist on redacting the records, then produce them as you see fit and we can take it from there. I only ask that you provide an appropriate legal justification for your choice. As I stated at the Council meeting, it's ridiculous to say that there is case law on a topic, then refuse to name the cases(s).

Please provide the requested records forthwith. Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Charlie Kratovil