OPRA: police officer-involved lawsuits 2012-2019
Dear Livingston Township,
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:
1. A list of all lawsuits and cases in which any officer of the police department was involved between 2012 and 2019. For each lawsuit/case, please provide the date (month and year) of the alleged incident at issue, whether the alleged incident was excessive force, settlement amount (if any), and final compensation amount ruled (if any).
2. Please provide copies of the complaint in any lawsuits and cases described above.
Yours faithfully,
UC Research
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The Township of Livingston's Clerk Department is temporarily closed to the public until further notice. The Clerks Department is fully functional, however it might take us a little longer than normal to respond. Please note: If you are submitting an OPRA request, pursuant to P.L. 2020 Ch 10, OPRA deadlines are inapplicable during a State of Emergency and that record custodians " must make a reasonable effort, as the circumstances permit to respond to a request for a government record within 7 business days or as soon as possible." In short, we will respond as quickly as we can under the current circumstances.
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Dear UC Research,
Your OPRA Request dated 5/27/2020 was received on 5/27/2020. I am
forwarding the request to the individual and department I believe may have
documents responsive to your request, and had anticipated providing a
formal response to your request on or before 6/52020, seven business days
after receipt of your request. However, an additional 5 businesses days
is needed to determine if there are any exiting records responsive to your
requests. Also pursuant to [1]P.L. 2020, c. 10 which took effect on
March 20, 2020, "during a period of a declared State of Emergency, Public
Health Emergency, or State of Local Disaster Emergency the seven business
days or soon as possible after the deadline to respond to Open Public
Records Act (OPRA) requests does not apply. The records custodian must
make reasonable effort, as the circumstance permit, to respond to an OPRA
request within the seven business days or soon as possible after the
deadline."
Our office is working on a modified schedule during this State of
Emergency and will make every effort to respond in a timely manner to your
OPRA Request.
If you have any questions in the interim, please do not hesitate to call
the Township Clerk, Glenn R. Turtletaub on his direct
line [2](973-535-7966).
For follow up information, please me at [3][email address].
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Renee Resky
Township Clerk's Office
Township of Livingston
357 S Livingston Ave
Livingston, NJ 07039
phone (973) 992-5000 ext 5405
fax (973) 535-7967
This communication is intended only for the use of the named addressee and
may contain information which is privileged, confidential and exempt from
disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this communication is
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please
notify us immediately by email and delete the original message.
Dear UC Research,
This comes in response to your OPRA Request and request under the common
law right of access, received 5/27/20 for:
" 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:
1. A list of all lawsuits and cases in which any officer of the police
department was involved between 2012 and 2019. For each lawsuit/case,
please provide the date (month and year) of the alleged incident at issue,
whether the alleged incident was excessive force, settlement amount (if
any), and final compensation amount ruled (if any).
2. Please provide copies of the complaint in any lawsuits and cases
described above."
The Township of Livingston does not make or maintain or keep on file "a
list of all lawsuits and cases in which any officer of the police
department was involved between 2012 and 2019. " There are no existing
lists responsive to your request. Pursuant to OPRA the custodian of
records is not supposed to perform research or to create a record in
response to an OPRA Request.
As to your second request since no lists of lawsuits exist, it would
require research to determine if any cases occurred during the timeframe
requested and then research to identify the complaints associated with any
lawsuits and cases involving any police officers. This request is beyond
the scope of the Custodian's duties pursuant to the Open Public Records
Act.
Sincerely,
Renee Resky
Township Clerk's Office
Township of Livingston
357 S Livingston Ave
Livingston, NJ 07039
phone (973) 992-5000 ext 5405
fax (973) 535-7967
This communication is intended only for the use of the named addressee and
may contain information which is privileged, confidential and exempt from
disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this communication is
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please
notify us immediately by email and delete the original message.