Because you identified "police records" along with the date range and names, and because police reports are electronic and therefore searchable with those parameters, the Police Records Clerk was able to identify and proved the attached documents.

However, in general I find your request to be overly broad. In Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005), the Court determined “. . . 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.” If the police reports were not the documents you were seeking, you will need to submit a new request identifying which department’s files, and which documents within those files, you are requesting under OPRA.

Please be advised that Borough documents are typically filed by Block and Lot/Address, or a category/subject within that department’s records parameters. While a name may be contained within a document, no documents are identified or filed based on a last name only. The vast majority of Borough records were, and still are, paper and are not easily searchable. Regardless, pursuant to MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super 534, 546 (App. Div. 2005) it is not incumbent upon the Record Custodian to perform research to identify records responsive to an OPRA request, just to retrieve the identified records and provide them. That said, I am happy to help you determine how any given department maintains its files so you can submit the necessary detail that identifies the record you want me to provide. I can be reached at the below number Monday-Friday from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm.

Karen Hughes, RMC
Borough Clerk
Assistant Borough Administrator
Borough of Westwood
101 Washington Avenue
Westwood, NJ 07675
201-664-7100 ext. 101
fax:  201-664-4260

-----Original Message-----
From: L Lockerby <[OPRA #57231 email]>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2024 9:06 PM
To: Karen Hughes <[Westwood Borough request email]>
Subject: OPRA request - Jason Garcia and Annie Steinberg Joachim

CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.

Dear Westwood Borough,

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:

All public records, including police records, that span from January 1, 2021 through January 1, 2024 that include the names Jason Garcia, Jay Garcia, Meghan Garcia, Annie Steinberg, Annie Joachim or Annie Steinberg Joachim.

Yours faithfully,

L Lockerby

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[OPRA #57231 email]

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This message, including any prior messages and attachments, may contain advisory, consultative and/or deliberative material, confidential information or privileged communications of the Borough of Westwood. In addition, emails may be subject to disclosure under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). Access to this message by anyone other than the sender and the intended recipient(s) is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken or not taken in reliance on it, without the expressed written consent of the Borough, is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, you should not save, scan, transmit, print, use or disseminate this message or any information contained in this message in any way you should promptly delete or destroy this message an all copies of it. Please notify the sender by return email if you have received this message in error. - Be Green - Think Before You Print -

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Please be advised that the Police Records Clerk did not find any police reports with these parameters.

As per my response to your original email:

In general I find your request to be overly broad. In Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005), the Court determined “. . . 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.” If police reports were not the documents you were seeking, you will need to submit a new request identifying which department’s files, and which documents within those files, you are requesting under OPRA.

Please be advised that Borough documents are typically filed by Block and Lot/Address, or a category/subject within that department’s records parameters. While a name may be contained within a document, no documents are identified or filed based on a last name only. The vast majority of Borough records were, and still are, paper and are not easily searchable. Regardless, pursuant to MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super 534, 546 (App. Div. 2005) it is not incumbent upon the Record Custodian to perform research to identify records responsive to an OPRA request, just to retrieve the identified records and provide them. That said, I am happy to help you determine how any given department maintains its files so you can submit the necessary detail that identifies the record you want me to provide. I can be reached at the below number Monday-Friday from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm.

Karen Hughes, RMC
Borough Clerk
Assistant Borough Administrator
Borough of Westwood
101 Washington Avenue
Westwood, NJ 07675
201-664-7100 ext. 101
fax:  201-664-4260

-----Original Message-----
From: L Lockerby <[OPRA #57231 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 11:59 AM
To: Karen Hughes <[Westwood Borough request email]>
Subject: Re: OPRA request - Jason Garcia and Annie Steinberg Joachim

CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.

Dear Westwood Borough,

Following up from my request dated January 15, 2024, please also include the following keywords in the OPRA request: Leanne Steinberg, Leanne Joachim and Leanne Steinberg Joachim.

Yours faithfully,

L Lockerby

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Please use this UNIQUE email address for all replies to this request and no other:
[OPRA #57231 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://opramachine.com/help/officers

View this OPRA request & responses online:
https://opramachine.com/request/jason_ga...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an OPRA custodian, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's website.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

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