Please accept this as my request for government records under both OPRA and the common law right of access. Thank you very much for your commitment to transparent government.

BACKGROUND:

Please note that I am making this request based on my belief that certain mandatory reports are either missing or inadequate on the Hanover Police Department's website at https://hanoverpolice.com/Forms/Internal... or may be located elsewhere on a different webpage or website. If the records I am referring to are indeed available elsewhere, or if the police department has recently updated its website and the reports can be found in a place I haven't checked, kindly inform me of the URL where the "missing" files can be accessed. In such a case, please consider this OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request withdrawn.

To provide some context, according to Internal Affairs Policy & Procedures (IAPP) Section 9.11.1, the Hanover Police Department is required to file annual reports with the Morris County Prosecutor and publish them on its webpage. These reports should summarize the types of complaints received and their dispositions in a statistical format. The department has been obligated to publish these reports on its webpage since at least 2020, even though the IAPP has undergone amendments. Notably, as of 2022, the summary reports must adhere to the format specified in the Annual Internal Affairs Summary provided in Appendix K. Prior to 2022, the use of Appendix K was optional.

Furthermore, as background information, IAPP Section 9.11.2 states that the Hanover Police Department must file and publish annual reports on its website by January 31st, documenting instances of "major discipline" imposed during the previous year. Similar to the previous requirement, the department has been responsible for publishing these major discipline reports online in some form and submitting them to the Morris County Prosecutor since at least 2020. Starting with the 2022 report, these reports are required to follow the format outlined in Appendix L.

Today, I visited the aforementioned webpage to access the Department's Internal Affairs reports, which are mandated to be available on the webpage according to IAPP Section 9.11.1 and 9.11.2. However, I discovered that the reports I am requesting below are either missing or inadequate. It is my belief that the Hanover Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.1 and 9.11.2 for not having appropriate versions of these reports on its website. (Inadequacies are noted in the comments.)

I want to clarify that the purpose of this request is not to obtain the following records for myself. Instead, it is intended to kindly prompt the Hanover Police Department to upload the missing or inadequate reports to its website, thereby ensuring compliance with the IAPP and making these important reports accessible to the public. THEREFORE, THE Hanover POLICE DEPARTMENT CAN FULFILL THIS REQUEST BY UPLOADING THE REQUESTED REPORTS TO ITS WEBPAGE OR WEBSITE AND NOTIFYING ME, IN RESPONSE TO THIS OPRA REQUEST, THAT IT HAS DONE SO. If, for any reason, the Hanover Police Department is unwilling to upload the identified reports, please provide them to me in response to this request.

RECORDS REQUESTED:

2020 IA Summary Report
2021 IA Summary Report
2022 IA Summary Report
2020 Major Discipline Report
2021 Major Discipline Report
2022 Major Discipline Report

COMMENTS: None.

--end of request

Dear Sergeant Schauder:

Your website has a dedicated "Internal Affairs" page at hanoverpolice.com/Forms/Internal-Affairs. I would think that this would be the natural place for a citizen to look for these reporting forms.

While you are correct that the reports are under the "information > Professional Standards Summary Report" page, that is not a likely place for the public to search for these reports. Would you move the reports to the "Internal Affairs" page or at least provide an obvious link on the "Internal Affairs" clicks through to the "Professional Standards Summary Report" page?

Thank you.

John Paff