Benjamin Praught Ritter
Dear Ridgewood Police Department,
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA 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:
accident reports, incident reports, aided reports, operations reports, internal affairs records, vehicle reports, investigation reports, citizen or victim or witness statements, citizen reports, detective bureau records, citations, summonses issued, charge sheets, disposition of charges, court records, legal actions, lawsuits filed, settlement agreements, judgements, CAD / dispatcher / police journal entry records, ambulance reports, patient care reports, fire department response reports, sobriety test results, 911 tapes, any dispatch calls, dispatch recordings, images, recordings, video recordings, surveillance video, dashboard camera video, body worn camera video, and video of any persons being interviewed by the police relating to the investigations into, arrests, prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of Benjamin Praught Ritter (Ben Ritter) from 08/15/2023 through 08/15/2025.
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,
concerned resident
Good Afternoon,
This email is in response to your OPRA request dated on 8/13/25. Enclosed please see attached for the requested document.
Please note there are potential fees associated with the requested Body Worn Camera footage before release: An employee needs to review and potentially redact every video for each officer on scene. State law and Attorney General Directives require police departments redact confidential images and audio before release to the public. This can take up to three hours per hour of video.
If an hour of video footage takes more than an hour to complete the review / redaction process, a fee will be assessed for up to two hours beyond that point. Stated another way, the requestor will be billed for redaction services that take more than the actual length of the video being redacted. The maximum hours that will be billed is two hours per hour of video, regardless if the process takes longer than three hours to complete an hour of redaction. The fees are based on the lowest hourly rate of a department employee authorized to review and redact video footage. That hourly rate is currently $25.00.
This is an example of what to expect:
An incident has one officer who responded for one hour. That is one hour of video that may take up to three hours to process. The first hour of redaction time is not billable. The remaining time up to three hours would be billed at the $25.00 rate:
Redaction Time for One Hour of Video Fee
1 $0
2 $25
3 $50
4 $50
Let us know if you still wish to have the footage included in your request. If so, we will begin the redaction process and send you a follow up email with the total cost.
Ridgewood Police Department
t: 201.670.5500
f: 551.305.6394
131 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY
This message, including any prior messages and attachments, may contain advisory, consultative and/or deliberative material, confidential information or privileged communications of The Ridgewood Police Department. Access to this message by anyone other than the sender and the intended recipient(s) is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken or not taken in reliance on it, without the expressed written consent of the Village, is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, you should not save, scan, transmit, print, use or disseminate this message or any information contained in this message in any way and you should promptly delete or destroy this message and all copies of it. Please notify the sender by return e-mail if you have received this message in error.
Dear rpdredactions,
I am unable to pay any fees and unwilling to reveal my identity as OPRA law allows me to request anonymously.
I am therefore no longer interested in video footage and am willing to accept the rest of the request or response without video footage.
Yours sincerely,
concerned resident
Then at this time I consider your OPRA request fulfilled and closed.
Thank you,
Ridgewood Police Department
t: 201.670.5500
f: 551.305.6394
131 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY
This message, including any prior messages and attachments, may contain advisory, consultative and/or deliberative material, confidential information or privileged communications of The Ridgewood Police Department. Access to this message by anyone other than the sender and the intended recipient(s) is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken or not taken in reliance on it, without the expressed written consent of the Village, is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, you should not save, scan, transmit, print, use or disseminate this message or any information contained in this message in any way and you should promptly delete or destroy this message and all copies of it. Please notify the sender by return e-mail if you have received this message in error.