Emergency vehicle crashes
Dear Mahwah Township,
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:
I would like to receive any accident reports, incident reports, aided reports, operations reports, internal affairs records, investigation reports, 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, total station diagrams, accident reconstruction diagrams and reports, 911 tapes, any dispatch calls, images, recordings, video recordings, surveillance video, dashboard camera video, body worn camera video of the crash itself or the driver or any other persons being interviewed by the police, and email or other written communications
relating to any accident or incident involving a police vehicle, fire vehicle, ambulance, paramedic vehicles, supervisor vehicle, emergency response vehicles, first responder, police officer, EMT, paramedic, firefighter, code enforcement officer, law enforcement officer, or wherein the box stating “Resp to Emergency” or “Responding to Emergency” is checked off on an accident or crash investigation report, and for the original situation or emergency that resulted in the dispatching of the resources and personnell in the first place that are in your possession
from January 1, 2012 until the December 31, 2023.
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,
mountaindew lightning
Good morning,
The Township of Mahwah is in receipt of your OPRA request dated September
28, 2024. Please be advised that your request is overbroad and invalid
under OPRA because it does not adequately identify specific records and
would require extensive interpretation and research by the custodian to
determine which records might be responsive to your request. Therefore,
the request is denied. See MAG Entm’t, LLC v. Div. of Alcoholic Beverage
Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 546, 549 (App. Div. 2005) (“Under OPRA,
agencies are required to disclose only ‘identifiable’ government records
not otherwise exempt.”); Shipyard Assoc.’s v. City of Hoboken, 2015 WL
10352982, *5 (App. Div. Sept. 15, 2015) (noting that the use of “any and
all” and “not limited to” is improper under OPRA). A valid OPRA request
must “identify with . . . specificity or particularity the government
records sought.” MAG Entm’t, 375 N.J. Super at 549 (OPRA “is not intended
as a research tool litigants may use to force government officials to
identify and siphon useful information.”) “OPRA does not convert a
custodian into a researcher.” Lagerkvist v. Office of Governor of State,
443 N.J. Super. 230, 237 (App. Div. 2015). “In short, OPRA does not
countenance open-ended searches of an agency's files.” MAG Entm’t, 375
N.J. Super. at 549; see also Spectraserv, Inc. v. Middlesex Cnty. Utils.
Auth., 416 N.J. Super. 565, 576 (App. Div. 2010).
If you wish to narrow your request so that it complies with the
requirements of OPRA, please submit a new request.
Your OPRA request is now deemed answered and closed. If your request for
access to a government record has been denied or unfilled within the
statutory time period required by law, you have a right to challenge the
denial of access. At your option, you may either institute a proceeding in
the Superior Court of New Jersey or file a complaint with the GRC by
completing the Denial of Access Complaint Form. You may contact the GRC
by toll-free telephone at 866-850-0511, by mail at P.O. Box 819, Trenton,
NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [1][email address], or at their web site at
[2]//www.state.nj.us/grc. The GRC can also answer other questions about
the law. All questions regarding complaints filed in Superior Court
should be directed to the Court Clerk in your County.
Regards,
Carolyn George, RMC
Municipal Clerk
Township of Mahwah
475 Corporate Drive
Mahwah, NJ 07430
201-529-5757, ext. 232
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=ht...