Dear Clark Township,

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) The employment status of Antonio Manata with the Clark Township Police Department;
2) Records of any written or verbal settlement, agreement or accord between Antonio Manata and the Township of Clark or any of its departments/divisions detailing his status with the Township of Clark and its Police Department in reference to his ability to seek employment elsewhere;
3) A list of internal affairs complaints (self generated and complaints made by the public), if any, against Antonio Manata while employed for the Clark Police Department, as well as the dispositions of all complaints.

Dear Clerk's Dept.,

Please feel to respond to respond to any of the 3 requested items separately if some of the requested information is available before all the information in its totality, as long as it is all ready prior to the seven business day deadline.

Yours sincerely,

JF

Dear Clerk's Dept.,

Good morning, can you lease provide us with a status on this request? As of today, We have not received any of the records requested in this specific request,

Yours sincerely,

JF

Dear Clerk's Dept.,

We are in receipt of the response provided by the Township's attorney, to which we are responding.

1- The township of Clark has previously supplied us with Antonio Manata's position and assignment
at the Clark Police Department but not his "employment STATUS"., which is very diferent. In order to clarify the request, we are asking if Antonio manata is currently a full time employee of the Township of Clark's Police Department.

2- The Township's attorney would be correct when referring to the N.J.A.G. guideline on Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures dated August 2020 "The nature and source of internal allegations, the progress of internal affairs investigations, and the resulting materials are confidential information. The contents of an internal investigation case file, including the original complaint, shall be retained in the internal
affairs function and clearly marked as confidential", but we are not requesting such records. In addition, the N.J.A.G. guideline on Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures dated August 2020 reads"9.12.1 Personnel records are separate and distinct from internal affairs investigation records".

We are NOT requesting for any of those mentioned and protected in the N.J.A.G. guideline on Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures dated August 2020. We are in simply requesting the three listed below, which are commonly requested by members of the public and the press and supplied by their employers.

Therefore, please we are requesting the following:

a) Date of complaint(s);
b)Type of complaint(s) (Ie: Excessive force, Demeanor, etc) and;
c) the investigations' adjudication (Ie: Exonerated, Sustained, etc)

Yours sincerely,

JF

Dear Clerk's Dept.,

Thank you for answering Part 1 of my request once it was clarified the records we were seeking.

As a reminder, as per N.J.A.G. Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures dated August 2020, all law enforcement agencies in the State of New Jersey are required to maintain an Internal Affairs Index File detailing specific details (date, nature of complaints, Officer's name and disposition) on all complaints filed against officers, even if the officer's identity is unknown.

In order to clarify what the Township's Legal Counsel meant by his response of Part 2, specifically "the
Township is not in possession of the sought information", can you please clarify if the township is not in possession of sought records/information, either because:

a) there were never any internal affairs complaints filed and/or investigations conducted against Antonio Manata during his employment with the Clark NJ Police Department, which would be concerning due to information the Clark Police Department provided for the NJ force Report (see link below) https://force.nj.com/database/officers/A...

or,

b) they are in the possession of others. If this is the case, please provide the name of the agency in possession of said records so that we can file our requests directly with them.

Also, as per N.J.A.G. Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures dated August 2020 Section 1.0.9 (a) Each agency must establish by written policy an internal affairs function, therefore we are also requesting the most recent Clark Police Department's Internal Affairs Policy

Yours sincerely,

JF

Dear Clerk's Dept.,

Good morning. Just a reminder we are waiting for a reply to the email sent to you on 8/31/21

Yours sincerely,

JF