Internal Communications
Dear Civil Service Commission,
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.
Records requested:
All internal communications and memoranda discussing the timing, scoring, publication of results, and candidate reviews for the June 4, 2025, examination for Title of Chief of Police.
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,
R James
To R James,
On July 5, 2025, pursuant to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1 et seq., you submitted an OPRA request to the Civil Service
Commission for:
All internal communications and memoranda discussing the timing, scoring,
publication of results, and candidate reviews for the June 4, 2025,
examination for Title of Chief of Police.
Please be advised your request as written is overbroad and improper. Under
OPRA, a "requestor must identify the records sought with specificity. The
request may not be a broad, generic description of documents that requires
the custodian to search the agency's files and 'analyze, compile, and
collate' the requested information." Bart v. Passaic Cnty. Pub. Housing
Agency, 406 N.J. Super. 445, 451 (App. Div. 2009) (citations omitted); see
also Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div.
2005).
Further, your request seeking communications is likewise overbroad.
Requests for communications must “identify a specific job title or
accounts to be searched, a specific subject matter, and [be] confined to a
reasonable time period[.]” N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g); see Burke v. Brandes, 429
N.J. Super. 169, 176-78 (App. Div. 2012). Your request fails to identify
the specific job title or accounts to be searched, and is thus overbroad
and improper.
Accordingly, your request is denied.
The OPRA Office
NJ Civil Service Commission
Dear R James,
The Civil Service Commission received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request on July 5, 2025. This response to your request is being provided to you today.
You made the following request:
"All internal communications and memoranda discussing the timing, scoring, publication of results, and candidate reviews for the June 4, 2025, examination for Title of Chief of Police.
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."
The above request is denied. The request is overly broad and/or unclear as it fail to name specifically identifiable government records and requires research beyond the scope of a custodian's duties pursuant to MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control 375 N.J. Super. 534, 546 (App. Div. 2005), Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J.Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005), New Jersey Builders Association v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J.Super. 166, 180 (App. Div. 2007), and Schuler v. Borough of Bloomsbury, GRC Complaint No. 2007-151 (February 2009).
The Open Public Records Act permits a person who believes he or she has been improperly denied access to a government record to file a complaint with the Government Records Council or to file an action in Superior Court to challenge the decision and compel disclosure. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6. You will find attached to this letter the document that describes the procedures for taking these actions.
Your OPRA request is now hereby deemed closed. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service.
Best regards,
Office of OPRA
NJ Civil Service Commission