Dear Mr. Hai:

 

On behalf of Brookdale Community College (the “College”), please accept
this letter in response to your New Jersey Open Public Records Act
(“OPRA”), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq., received by the College’s Records
Custodian on March 5, 2018.  Please be advised that the College is
responding to your request within seven (7) business days after receipt of
your request in accordance with New Jersey law.   See N.J.S.A.
47:1A-5(g)-(i).

 

For ease of reference, we note that your OPRA request seeks the following:

 

·         “Can you tell me what software do you use for internet
filtering? Can you also tell me what your policies are?”

 

Please be advised that your request primarily fails to identify with
reasonable clarity the specific government records sought.  See Bent v.
Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005)
(noting that OPRA allows requests for specific records, not requests for
general information, data or statistics).  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.  Id. Consequently, a proper request “must identify with
reasonable clarity those documents that are desired.”  Burke v. Brandes,
429 N.J. Super. 169, 174 (App. Div. 2012) (citing Bent, 281 N.J. Super. at
37).  New Jersey courts have reasoned that “OPRA does not countenance
open-ended searches of an agency’s files.”  Id.   

 

The Appellate Division has held that:

·         Agencies are only obligated to disclose identifiable government
records.  The statute “only allows requests for records, not requests for
information.”  A proper request “must identify with reasonable clarity
those documents that are desired.”  “Wholesale requests for general
information to be analyzed, collated and compiled” by the agency are
outside OPRA’s scope.” 

·         Burke v. Brandes, 429 N.J. Super. 169, 174 (App. Div. 2012)
(citations omitted); see also Lagerkvist v. Office of Governor of State,
443 N.J. Super. 230, 237 (App. Div. 2015) (holding that OPRA does not
convert a custodian into a researcher, which would have been the effect of
the request). 

 

The Appellate Division has stressed that OPRA simply operates to make
identifiable government records readily accessible for copying, inspection
or examination and OPRA “is not intended to be used as a fishing
expedition or a research tool to compile unknown documents.”  Mason v.
City of Hoboken, No. A-0508-06T5, 2008 WL 220419, at *5 (N.J. Super. Ct.
App. Div. Jan. 29, 2008); see also Burke v. Ocean Cty., No. A-0118-12T3,
2013 WL 6169154, *3 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. Nov. 26, 2013) (holding
that an OPRA request is not the equivalent of law suit discovery). 
Notably, it is well settled that a “blanket request” for a various class
of documents rather than a request for specifically identifiable records
is invalid.  See Abdur-Raheem v. N.J. Div. of Criminal Justice, GRC
Complaint No. 2014-171 (June 30, 2015); Murphy v. NJ Dept. of Corrections,
GRC Complaint No. 2015-340 (2017) (upholding a denial of access to a
request for “any records” as an invalid “blanket request for a class of
various documents rather than . . . specifically named or identifiable
government records”).   Here, your OPRA request for all “records”
constitutes a blanket request for a various class of documents rather than
specifically identifiable records, as required by OPRA.

 

Courts have upheld a government records custodian’s denial of access in
response to an overly broad and generalized OPRA request. See e.g.,
Spectraserv, Inc. v. Middlesex Cnty. Utilities Auth., 416 N.J. Super. 565,
576 (App. Div. 2010). Consequently, a proper request under OPRA “must
identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired, and a
party cannot satisfy this requirement by simply requesting all of an
agency’s documents. OPRA does not authorize unbridled searches of an
agency’s property. Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police Dept., 381 N.J. Super.
30, 37 (App. Div. 2005).

 

Your OPRA Request is now deemed answered and closed. Thank you for your
attention to this matter.

 

 

Very truly yours,

 

 

Robert L. Francis

Interim Executive Director, College Operations

Government Record Custodian

732-224-2223 (office)

732-580-6374 (mobile)

 

Brookdale Community College

The County College of Monmouth

765 Newman Springs Rd.

Lincroft, NJ 07738

[1]www.brookdalecc.edu

 

 

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.brookdalecc.edu/