Emergency vehicle crashes
Dear Emerson Borough,
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, vehicle reports, 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
Good afternoon Mountaindew Lightning,
The Borough of Emerson and I, as the Custodian of Records, received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request and common law request on October 1, 2024 for:
" Records requested:
I would like to receive any accident reports, incident reports, aided reports, operations reports, internal affairs records, vehicle reports, 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."
As such, the seven (7) business day deadline to respond to your request is October 10, 2024. This response to your request is being provided to you on the 7th business day after the custodian’s receipt of said request.
Your request requires additional time beyond the seven (7) business days to fulfill due to the scope of your request including the volume of records being requested and the extensive period of time for which the records are sought. Further, additional time is required to retrieve potentially responsive records from storage. OPRA allows custodians to seek extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA states that, “the custodian shall be entitled to a reasonable extension of any response deadline and shall notify the requestor of the time extension within seven business days after receiving the request." Further, if the government record is in storage or archived, "...the requestor shall be advised by the custodian when the record can be made available, which shall be no more than 21 business days from the date the requestor is so advised. If the record is not made available by that time, access shall be deemed denied.”
Your request requires an extension of time until November 12, 2024 to fulfill.
If your request for access to a government record has been denied or unfilled within the seven (7) or fourteen (14) business days required by law, you have a right to challenge the decision by the Borough of Emerson to deny access. At your option, you may either: 1) institute a proceeding in the Superior Court of New Jersey; or 2) file a complaint with the Government Records Council (“GRC”) by completing the Denial of Access Complaint Form. All questions regarding complaints filed in Superior Court should be directed to the Court Clerk in your County. Questions regarding the GRC’s Denial of Access Complaint process can be directed to the GRC toll-free telephone at 866-850-0511, by mail at P.O. Box 819, Trenton, NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [email address], or at their web site at www.state.nj.us/grc. The Council can answer general inquiries about OPRA.
Regards,
Michelle Ryan
Acting Borough Clerk
Borough of Emerson
1 Municipal Place
Emerson, New Jersey 07630
Tel: 201-262-6086 ext. 1200
Email: [Emerson Borough request email]
Website: www.emersonnj.org