Morristown Town, Morris County: Promoting compliance with Internal Affairs Reporting.
Please accept this as my request for government records under both OPRA and the common law right of access. Thank you very much for your commitment to transparent government.
BACKGROUND:
Please note that I am making this request based on my belief that certain mandatory reports are either missing or inadequate on the Morristown Police Department's website at https://www.townofmorristown.org/index.a... or may be located elsewhere on a different webpage or website. If the records I am referring to are indeed available elsewhere, or if the police department has recently updated its website and the reports can be found in a place I haven't checked, kindly inform me of the URL where the "missing" files can be accessed. In such a case, please consider this OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request withdrawn.
To provide some context, according to Internal Affairs Policy & Procedures (IAPP) Section 9.11.1, the Morristown Police Department is required to file annual reports with the Morris County Prosecutor and publish them on its webpage. These reports should summarize the types of complaints received and their dispositions in a statistical format. The department has been obligated to publish these reports on its webpage since at least 2020, even though the IAPP has undergone amendments. Notably, as of 2022, the summary reports must adhere to the format specified in the Annual Internal Affairs Summary provided in Appendix K. Prior to 2022, the use of Appendix K was optional.
Furthermore, as background information, IAPP Section 9.11.2 states that the Morristown Police Department must file and publish annual reports on its website by January 31st, documenting instances of "major discipline" imposed during the previous year. Similar to the previous requirement, the department has been responsible for publishing these major discipline reports online in some form and submitting them to the Morris County Prosecutor since at least 2020. Starting with the 2022 report, these reports are required to follow the format outlined in Appendix L.
Today, I visited the aforementioned webpage to access the Department's Internal Affairs reports, which are mandated to be available on the webpage according to IAPP Section 9.11.1 and 9.11.2. However, I discovered that the reports I am requesting below are either missing or inadequate. It is my belief that the Morristown Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.1 and 9.11.2 for not having appropriate versions of these reports on its website. (Inadequacies are noted in the comments.)
I want to clarify that the purpose of this request is not to obtain the following records for myself. Instead, it is intended to kindly prompt the Morristown Police Department to upload the missing or inadequate reports to its website, thereby ensuring compliance with the IAPP and making these important reports accessible to the public. THEREFORE, THE Morristown POLICE DEPARTMENT CAN FULFILL THIS REQUEST BY UPLOADING THE REQUESTED REPORTS TO ITS WEBPAGE OR WEBSITE AND NOTIFYING ME, IN RESPONSE TO THIS OPRA REQUEST, THAT IT HAS DONE SO. If, for any reason, the Morristown Police Department is unwilling to upload the identified reports, please provide them to me in response to this request.
RECORDS REQUESTED:
2020 IA Summary Report
2022 IA Summary Report
2020 Major Discipline Report
2021 Major Discipline Report
COMMENTS: The 2022 IA Summary is not in the form of Appendix K. Further, the IA page is buried deep inside the site and is difficult to navigate to. It is not obvious to click on "Criminal Investigations Division" to find the IA site.
--end of request
We are in receipt of your document request pursuant to the Open Public
Records Act, N.J.S.A 47:1A-1 et seq., and will respond to your request
withing seven (7) business days as permitted by law.
Regards,
Office of the Town Clerk
Morristown, NJ
Good afternoon -
The Town of Morristown (“Town”) is in receipt of your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request dated May 29, 2023 (our file no. 23-231) regarding the Morristown Police Department’s (“Department”) disclosure of annual internal affairs reports along with allegations asserting that the Department is in violation of the Attorney General’s Internal Affairs Police and Procedure (“IAPP”). You contend that the Department is required under the IAPP to utilize Appendix K when issuing its annual summary reports. However, Section 9.10.2 of the 2022 IAPP explicitly states that the summary form must contain, at a minimum, the following information: (1) nature of the complaint, (2) date the complaint was received, (3) the current status of the complaint, and (4) the final disposition of the complaint if closed. Notably, Section 9.10.2 expressly provides that “a sample form can be found at Appendix K.” Therefore, Appendix K is not mandatory, and the summary reports published by the Department meet the requirements of the IAPP. Additionally, contrary to your contention, the reports concerning “major discipline” do in fact utilize Appendix L. As such, the Department is not in violation of its annual reporting requirements in accordance with the IAPP.
In response to you the specific documents sought pursuant to your request, the records can be found here: Internal Affairs - Criminal Investigations Division - Morristown, New Jersey (townofmorristown.org)
Warm Regards,
Margot G. Kaye
Margot G. Kaye, Town Clerk
Town of Morristown
200 South Street
Morristown, NJ 07960
[email address]
(973) 292-6636