Please allow this email to serve as confirmation that we have received your request and will respond within the timeframe allotted by OPRA.

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Good afternoon.

Due to the size of the request we will require an extension on this OPRA until 08/17/2018.

Thank you.

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Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2018 16:29:36 +0000
Subject: Open Public Records Act request - Information regarding police contact
From: "ASK NJ Media Co." <[OPRA #2122 email]>
To: Kim Krauss <[Middle Township request email]>

Dear Middle Township,

This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:

1. Copy(s) of Middle Township Police Department SOPs/General Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations referencing and in regards to the practice of police officers identifying themselves by name and/or badge number to members of the general public when requested, and/or by individuals the police officers make contact with in the course of their duties, when requested by those individuals.

2. Copy(s) of Middle Township Police Department SOPs/General Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations referencing and in regards to the display of name tags, name plates, name patches, badges, and/or badge numbers.

3. Copy(s) of Middle Township Police Department SOPs/General Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations referencing and in regards to the conduct of police officers when engaging/making contact with the public.

4. A copy of all of the SOPs/General Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations that are currently in place as of 8-1-2016 from the Middle Township Police Department regarding public photography and/or video recording of government buildings and within publically accessible areas of Government Buildings.

5. A copy of all of the SOPs/General Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations that are currently in place as of 8-1-2016 from the Little Egg Harbor Police Department regarding public photography and/or video recording of military facilities and critical infrastructures.

Yours faithfully,

ASK NJ Media Co.

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[OPRA #2122 email]

Is [Middle Township request email] the wrong address for Open Public Records Act requests to Middle Township? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://opramachine.com/change_request/n...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
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Thank you for the clarification. We will pass this along to our police department for review to see if our municipality has a similar document.

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With regards to your final item requested (item 3), clarified July 24,
2018, the table below identifies the final records that being released,
denied in whole or in part, as well as the legal basis for each denial, as
is required by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6.

List of all List of all If records are If records were List the legal
records records disclosed with denied in their explanation
responsive to provided, with redactions, entirety, give and statutory
OPRA request redactions, or give a general a general citation for
(include the denied in their nature nature the denial of  
number of pages entirety. description of description of access to
for each the redactions. the record. records in
record). their entirety
or with
redactions.
Middle Township  
Police
Department,  
Rules and
Regulations –    
22 pages
 

This concludes your request. 

If your request for access to a government record has been denied or
unfilled within the seven (7) business days required by law, you have a
right to challenge the decision by the Township of Middle to deny access.
At your option, you may either institute a proceeding in the Superior
Court of New Jersey or file a complaint with the Government Records
Council (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.

Kimberly D. Krauss, R.M.C., C.M.R.

Township Clerk / Registrar of Vital Statistics

Deputy Business Administrator

Township of Middle

33 Mechanic Street

Cape May Court House, NJ 08210

phone (609) 465-8721

fax (609) 465-9659

[3][Middle Township request email]

[4]www.middletownship.com

[5]cid:image001.png@01D3AAF6.7E536E30

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.

This e-mail transmission and any attachments that accompany it may contain
information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from
disclosure under applicable law and is intended solely for the use of the
individual(s) to whom it was intended to be addressed. If you have
received this e-mail by mistake, or you are not the intended recipient,
any disclosure, dissemination, distribution, copying or other use or
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have received this communication in error, please immediately reply to the
author via e-mail that you received this message by mistake and also
permanently delete the original and all copies of this e-mail and any
attachments from your computer.

From: Kim Krauss
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 1:15 PM
To: '[OPRA #2122 email]'
<[OPRA #2122 email]>
Cc: Kendra Karstens <[email address]>; Emily Bowman
<[email address]>
Subject: OPRA - Information regarding police contact - ASK MEDIA

The Township of Middle has received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA)
request dated July 14, 2018. The official Records Custodian, Kimberly
Krauss, received your OPRA request on July 16, 2018 and is hereby
responding on the 6^th day thereafter.

Your request dated July 14, 2018 requested the following:

1. Copy(s) of Middle Township Police Department SOPs/General
Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations referencing and in regards to
the practice of police officers identifying themselves by name and/or
badge number to members of the general public when requested, and/or by
individuals the police officers make contact with in the course of their
duties, when requested by those individuals.

2. Copy(s) of Middle Township Police Department SOPs/General
Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations referencing and in regards to
the display of name tags, name plates, name patches, badges, and/or badge
numbers.

3. Copy(s) of Middle Township Police Department SOPs/General
Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations referencing and in regards to
the conduct of police officers when engaging/making contact with the
public.

4. A copy of all of the SOPs/General
Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations that are currently in place
as of 8-1-2016 from the Middle Township Police Department regarding public
photography and/or video recording of government buildings and within
publicly accessible areas of Government Buildings.

5. A copy of all of the SOPs/General
Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations that are currently in place
as of 8-1-2016 from the Little Egg Harbor Police Department regarding
public photography and/or video recording of military facilities and
critical infrastructures.

The table below identifies the records that are being released, denied in
whole or in part, as well as the legal basis for each denial, as is
required by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6.

List of List of all records provided, with If records If records List the
all redactions, or denied in their entirety. are were denied legal
records disclosed in their explanation
responsive with entirety, and
to OPRA redactions, give a statutory
request give a general citation
(include general nature for the
the number nature description denial of
of pages description of the access to
for each of the record. records in
record). redactions. their
entirety or
with
redactions.
  Item 1 - Copy(s) of Middle Township Police       
Department SOPs/General
  Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations    
referencing and in regards to the practice
  of police officers identifying themselves by   No such
name and/or badge number to members of the record
  general public when requested, and/or by   exist
individuals the police officers make contact
  with in the course of their duties, when    
requested by those individuals.
     
 
     
 
     
 
     
 
     
 
     
 
     
 
     
 
Item 2 -    
Middle  
Township    
Police  
Department    
SOP #103,  
entitled    
“uniform  
policy” –    
9pgs,  
provided    
in  
entirety      
with no Item 4 - A copy of all of the SOPs/General
redactions Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations    
that are currently in place as of 8-1-2016
from the Middle Township Police Department    
regarding public photography and/or video
recording of government buildings and within    
publicly accessible areas of Government
Buildings.    

  No such
record
  exist

Item 5 - A copy of all of the SOPs/General  
Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations
that are currently in place as of 8-1-2016  
from the Little Egg Harbor Police Department
regarding public photography and/or video  
recording of military facilities and
critical infrastructures.  

No such
record
exist

With regards to item 3, “Copy(s) of Middle Township Police Department
SOPs/General Orders/Directives/Policies/Rules/Regulations referencing and
in regards to the conduct of police officers when engaging/making contact
with the public,” we believe that this particular item/request is overly
broad and will require further clarification to proceed.  

Currently, your request fails to identify with reasonable clarity the
specific government records sought, as is required by Bent v. Stafford
Police Department, 381 N.J.Super. 30, 37 (App. Div.  2005). If a request
does not name specifically identifiable records or is overly broad, a
custodian may deny access pursuant to the following court decisions: MAG
Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375
N.J.Super. 534 (App. Div. 2005), Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381
N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005), New Jersey Builders Association v. New
Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J. Super. 166 (App. Div.
2007), and Schuler v. Borough of Bloomsbury, GRC Complaint No. 2007-151
(February 2009).  At this time, we ask that you clarify your OPRA request
to specifically outline what document or type of “contact” you referring
to so that we may reproduce said document for your request.  

For example, an overly broad request would include language such as “Any
and all records related to the construction of the new high school.” An
example of a valid request would be “Any and all e-mails between Jane Doe
and John Smith regarding the construction of the new high school from
January 1, 2009 to February 28, 2009.”

 A records custodian is obligated to search her files to find the
identifiable government records listed in the applicant’s OPRA request,
however I must remind you that a custodian is not required to research her
files to figure out which records, if any, might be responsive to a broad
and unclear OPRA request.

With regards to item 3 please respond in writing so that we may process
your request.   Failure to provide written clarification of your request
will result in the closure of this particular OPRA request item.

All other items in your 07/14/2018 items have been addressed in our
official response above. We await your response.

Kimberly D. Krauss, R.M.C., C.M.R.

Township Clerk / Registrar of Vital Statistics

Deputy Business Administrator

Township of Middle

33 Mechanic Street

Cape May Court House, NJ 08210

phone (609) 465-8721

fax (609) 465-9659

[6][Middle Township request email]

[7]www.middletownship.com

[8]cid:image001.png@01D3AAF6.7E536E30

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.

This e-mail transmission and any attachments that accompany it may contain
information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from
disclosure under applicable law and is intended solely for the use of the
individual(s) to whom it was intended to be addressed. If you have
received this e-mail by mistake, or you are not the intended recipient,
any disclosure, dissemination, distribution, copying or other use or
retention of this communication or its substance is prohibited. If you
have received this communication in error, please immediately reply to the
author via e-mail that you received this message by mistake and also
permanently delete the original and all copies of this e-mail and any
attachments from your computer.

References

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