Please be advised that pursuant to long-standing Law & Public Safety policy and practice, submission of OPRA requests by e-mail is not permitted. This restriction is supported by New Jersey case law. In 2009, the Appellate Division stated in Renna v. County of Union, 407 N.J. Super. 230 (App. Div. 2009), “the primary objective of the statutory construct is that the requester set forth in writing, and in a cogent and clear manner, the nature of the request and the other information required by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f).” On the same day, the Appellate Division held in Paff v. City of East Orange, 407 N.J. Super. 221 (App. Div. 2009):

“We conclude that the authority N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 (f) (1) confers upon a custodian of government records to adopt a form for requesting access to a government record, which includes ‘specific directions and procedures for requesting a record,’ authorizes a custodian to direct that a request for a government record must be transmitted only by methods specified in the form, which need not include every method of transmission mentioned in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g).”

Additionally, I note that the records you seek, to the extent they exist, would more likely be found with the Division of State Police, rather than the Office of the Attorney General. You can file an OPRA request on-line with the Division of State Police (and most other Executive Branch departments and agencies in New Jersey). Log onto www.state.nj.us/lps/opra to get to the Department of Law and Public Safety OPRA website. Once you are logged onto that page, look at the left-hand column and click on the third item "Online Request Form". That will take you to a pull-up menu of State departments; click on "Law and Public Safety". That will take you to a pull-up menu of L&PS divisions; click on "Division of State Police". That will take you to the online OPRA Request Form for the Division of State Police . If you wish, you can select "Office of the Attorney General" if you still would like to submit your request to this office. Fill in the information on that form (the aqua boxes are mandatory fields) and when you click "Submit", three things will happen: 1. Your request will be entered into the State's OPRA Tracking System; 2. You will receive an acknowledgment with a tracking number for your request; and 3. An e-mail notice regarding your OPRA request will be sent to the Records Custodian for the Division of State Police (or any other Division to which you submit your request).

Please note that you may still submit your online request anonymously.

Sincerely,

Anthony DiLello
Deputy Attorney General
Acting L&PS Custodian of Records
State of New Jersey
Office of the Attorney General
P.O. Box 081
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0081
Phone: (609) 984-6998
Fax: (609) 984-5949
[email address]

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