Dear Lindenwold Borough,

This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:

1) All NJSA 47:1A-3b information regarding the arrests that took place on the afternoon of 3/12/2021, in the parking lot of Village of Timber Creek Condos, the Lindenwold PD cuffed and held on the ground 4 children while their home was searched.
2) All arrest reports, complaints, summonses, and other charging documents regarding the arrests that took place on the afternoon of 3/12/2021, in the parking lot of Village of Timber Creek Condos, the Lindenwold PD cuffed and held on the ground 4 children while their home was searched
3) Any body-worn camera or dashboard camera footage related to the event that took place on the afternoon of 3/12/2021, in the parking lot of Village of Timber Creek Condos, the Lindenwold PD cuffed and held on the ground 4 children while their home was searched

Dear Lindenwold Borough,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Open Public Records Act reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Lindenwold Borough's handling of my OPRA request 'All Records, Reports and Camera Footage related to 3/12/21 Incident in VTCCA'.

On March 12, 2021, Lindenwold Police Department  responded to a call at Village of Timber Creek Condominium community.

As a result of hearsay, 4 children. Ages 17 down to toddler, were pulled from their home, cuffed and held in the ground in the middle of the parking lot on top of broken glass whole LPD searches the home. The baby, less than 3yrs old at the time was wearing nothing but a diaper.

There were no parents home at the time of the incident, and LPD did not have a warrant.

No charges against any member of the household resulted from the search of the home.

Meanwhile, our neighborhood was traumatized. LPD followed their swatting of a Timber Creek household with intense and intrusive patrolling of VTCCA. Driving by several times a day staring our elementary school kids down. Following our residents to and from their cars and homes. Shining their massive floodlights into our bedroom windows every 10 minutes throughout the night for days on end.

I met with Lt Matalski shortly after this incident to file an IA complaint and talk about different patrolling styles and their intended vs actual efficacy.

I also request the publicly available records, including body cam data, for this incident. My request was denied at the time due to the investigation not being resolved. I reattempted a few weeks later and was once again told the investigation was still open.

I spoke with the parents of the children and confirmed that they had an attorney had already received the cams footage in discovery from LPD.

This summer, I met with Chief McCarthy to once again address patrolling styles and community policing strategies. During this meeting, I learned that the investigation resolved and LPD reports NO IA COMPLAINTS related to the incident.

I, myself, and the parents of the children both reached out to LPD internal affairs regarding this incident.

Why is LPD lying?

Once I found out the investigation was resolved, I resubmitted my request via OPRA Machine(link below). These requests are supposed to be filled within 10 days, unless the request is extra complicated or extensive, then an extended time til fulfillment can be communicated. Lindenwold borough asked for an extension to 8/27 for this single case file.

Yesterday was 8/27, and you can see that the borough has responded with a blank email.

Body cam data is required to be stored for 6 months, unless related to a reported use of force incident OR a complaint related to the incident is filed with IA.

That gives LPD two weeks until the cam data is gone.

If the borough can stall for two more weeks, and if LPD can continue to bury IA complaints, then this camera footage will be destroyed forever!

A full history of my OPRA request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://opramachine.com/request/all_reco...

Yours faithfully,

LetMeBeFrank