The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office is in receipt of the below public record request. The deadline for responding to this request was extended to July 16, 2020.

This Office is currently in the process of updating and revising its policy for Standard Operating Procedures on Civil Disorders. Until that process is complete and the policy is finalized, no official policy exists to be released. Therefore, the request for same is denied at this time for lack of a responsive record.

I am advised that the new policy should be finalized within the next three to four weeks. You are free to file a new OPRA request to obtain the policy when it becomes available.

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Good morning,

There was a prior policy, which has been withdrawn and thus is inactive. I have been advised that it was probably created in the mid-1990s and has not been used in decades, if ever.

My email of July 8, 2020 denied your OPRA request for our SOP on Civil Disorders on the ground we did not currently have a record to provide you. I explained that we were drafting a new policy, which should be finalized and available within a few weeks. Was your email below intended to be a new OPRA request for the inactive policy?

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The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office did not use the former, inactive SOP on Civil Disorders in reference to the June 1, 2020 Asbury Park protest.

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Dear ASK NJ Media Co.,

We are in receipt of your request for the "former, inactive Monmouth County Uniform Policy Standard Operating Procedures on Civil Disorders," as well as your July 13, 2020 e-mail to the MCPO Executive Staff requesting, “the policies that various law enforcement agencies have used in connection with the protests and/or marches that were recently held in Asbury Park and other towns within Monmouth County, NJ.” This email with attachment responds to both requests.

As previously explained, the policy that you requested is inactive, obsolete, and does not reflect law enforcement operations as they exist today – it still reflects the prior bail system that our State did away with on January 1, 2017 with the statutory passage of Criminal Justice Reform. As does any government agency, we continually add, amend, and rescind policies over time to reflect changes in laws, AG Guidelines and Directives that are issued, as well as changes in technology and best practices that evolve over time. To our knowledge, the outdated policy that you have requested was not used or referred to by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office with respect to any protests or marches held in Asbury Park or other towns within Monmouth County. We are providing this outdated policy to you based on your request, but do not believe it is substantively responsive to the information that you are seeking.

In an effort to assist you, we suggest that the information that you are seeking will not be found within the four corners of a policy. Rather, police officers were deployed in Asbury Park and throughout the other towns that had planned marches to ensure the safety of those participating in the marches as well as the protection and security of the residents and business owners in the towns where marches took place. These best practices employed by law enforcement agencies at the planned marches are not dissimilar to the police practices utilized on a regular basis wherever large crowds of people gather – whether it’s a parade, concert, theater, fair or festival routinely scheduled in towns (before the current health crisis). The goal for law enforcement at these events is always the same: to ensure the health and safety of the citizens that the agency regularly serves as well as those visiting their municipalities to participate in the large gathering. With all such large crowds, local agencies do their best to properly staff the event, calling upon other local, county and state agencies to provide added support if necessary.

We hope that this information is helpful to you.

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