Emergency vehicle crashes

mountaindew lightning made this OPRA request to Piscataway Township Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was refused by Piscataway Township.

mountaindew lightning

Dear Piscataway 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, REGARDLESS OF PAY OR VOLUNTEER STATUS OR IF THE CRASH WAS WHILE RESPONDING TO EMERGENCY, NOT DURING AN EMERGENCY RESPONSE, “ON DUTY”, OR “OFF DUTY”, 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

Kelly Mitch, Piscataway Township

Good Morning,

 

Please note that your request includes 550 to 600 accident / incident
reports, 25 videos related to said reports, and approximately 500 9-1-1
calls. In order for the responsive documents to be released, it would take
the Township about 150 hours of time to complete it’s review and make any
necessary redactions pursuant to state law.

 

As such, due to the amount of time needed to review and respond to this
request, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g), it would be a substantial
disruption to Township operations to complete the review and redactions.

 

Before denying the request, the Township wishes to see if there is a
reasonable solution that you would agree to that would reduce the affect
on Township operations. Please let  us know if you would be able to limit
the scope of the request, or provide the Township with a lengthy time
period to complete same.

 

Please note that if you do wish to obtain the records and provide the
Township with extended time to complete same, there would still be a
Special Service Charge associated with the response. The estimated times
to respond to this request is as follows:

 

25 videos @ 30 minutes to review/redact = 12.5 hours

600 incident reports @ 5 minutes to review/redact =  50 hours

500 911 calls @ 10 minutes to review/redact (calls were on a different
system in 2012, so there are no record of those calls) = 83 hours

 

The Township provides a credit for the first 8 hours, and therefore the
special service charge would be 137.5 hours x 41.11 per hour for a Total
of $5,652.62.

 

The Township would need this amount to be deposited with the Township
before the Township initiates it’s review. Upon completion, any difference
in actual time would then either be required to be paid (if more than the
estimate), or will be returned to you (if less than the estimate).

 

The response period for this OPRA request shall be suspended until we hear
back from you.

 

Thank you,

 

Kelly Mitch

Deputy Township Clerk