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:

At the outset, please be advised that this request is based on my belief that certain mandatory reports are missing from the Hamburg Police Department's website at http://www.hamburgpolice.org/ If the records that I claim to be missing are actually present on a different website or webpage (perhaps the police department recently changed its website or perhaps the reports are in a place that I didn't check), please inform me of the URL where the "missing" files reside and consider this OPRA request withdrawn.

I visited the above noted webpage today to read the Department's Internal Affairs reports required to placed on the webpage by Internal Affairs Policies & Procedures (IAPP) Section 9.11.1 and 9.11.2. However, I could find only a report stating "that no major disciplinary actions were sanctioned during the reporting period time period of June 15, 2020 through December 31, 2020." I assert that this information is not sufficient to satisfy IAPP Sections 9.11.1 and 9.11.2

By way of background, IAPP Section 9.11.1 requires the Hamburg Police Department to file with the Sussex County Prosecutor and to publish on its webpage annual "report[s] summarizing the types of complaints received and the dispositions of those complaints" which reports "should be statistical in nature." Even though the IAPP has been amended from time to time, the Department has been under a duty to publish these reports on its webpage since at least 2020. Notably, beginning in 2022, the summary reports are required to be in the form required by IAPP Appendix K. Prior to 2022, the use of Appendix K was optional.

Also, by way of background, IAPP Section 9.11.2 requires the Hamburg Police Department, on or prior to January 31st, to file and publish on its website annual reports collecting instances of "major discipline" imposed during the previous year. Again, although the IAPP has gone through a few amendments, it has been a duty of the Hamburg Police Department to publish those major discipline reports on-line, in one form or another, and to file them with the Sussex County Prosecutor since at least 2020. Notably, the reports, beginning with the 2022 report, "shall follow the format provided in Appendix L."

I believe that the Hamburg Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.1 for not having its 2020, 2021and 2022 summary reports posted on-line and for not having the 2022 summary report in the form of Appendix K. I further believe that the Hamburg Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.2 for not having its major discipline reports from 2021 and 2022 posted on its website and for failing to have its 2022 report provided in Appendix L's format.

The object of this request is to learn if the missing reports exist and, if so to learn whether they were filed with the Sussex County Prosecutor as required by IAPP Section 9.11.1 and 2.

RECORDS REQUESTED:

1. Transmittal letters, e-mails or other writings that accompanied the filing of the Hamburg Police Department's Internal Affairs summary reports (i.e. those required to be filed by IAPP Section 9.11.1) covering 2020, 2021 and 2022 with the Sussex County Prosecutor.

2. The Hamburg Police Department's Internal Affairs summary reports (i.e. those required to be filed by IAPP Section 9.11.1) covering 2020, 2021 and 2022.

3. Transmittal letters, e-mails or other writings that accompanied the filing of the Hamburg Police Department's Internal Affairs major discipline reports (i.e. those required to be filed by IAPP Section 9.11.2) covering 2021 and 2022 with the Sussex County Prosecutor.

4. The Hamburg Police Department's Internal Affairs major discipline reports (i.e. those required to be filed by IAPP Section 9.11.2) covering 2021 and 2022.

5. In lieu of responding to Nos. 1 through 4 above, the Hamburg Police Department may satisfy this request by a) uploading the summary reports covering 2020, 2021 and 2022 and the major discipline reports covering 2021 and 2022 to its webpage and b) notifying me, via OPRAMachine, that it has done so. I would actually prefer this because it would make those important reports available to everyone in the public, not just me.

Dear Ms. McCall,

Thank you very much for your prompt response. Would you please let me know when the webpage is fully updated? Upon receipt, I will acknowledge that this request is fulfilled and close my file.

Very truly yours,

John Paff

Dear Ms. McCall:

Thank you for the update. This still is, unfortunately, one problem.

The 2022 Summary Report that was placed on-line is not in the form of Appendix K. Appendix K, set forth in full, has a lot more information on it than the single-page summary provided to the public on the the Department's website. Note that Internal Affairs Policies & Procedures (IAPP) Section 9.11.1 specifically mandates that "[t]he Annual Internal Affairs summary attached to Appendix K shall be used to satisfy the requirements of this Section." So, strictly speaking, Hamburg is in violation of the IAPP for not having its Appendix K on the Internet for the public to see.

This is not a trivial concern. According to the No. 5 of the Appendix K instruction sheet on the OAG's website:

The first page of the [Appendix K] report is a rough categorization of initial allegations, discipline, and a few other metrics for cases closed in the reporting period" while pages 2-3 summarize all cases by initial or sustained allegation and provide several views of complaint source, case length, and criminal and internal outcomes, pages 4-5 present detailed information on allegations of "Other rule violation.” Pages 6-7 present detailed information on allegations of "Criminal violation.” and page 8 presents an overview of discipline by most serious sustained allegation, first with "Criminal violation” and "Other rule violation" collapsed and then with each broken out.

I consider this OPRA request closed, but I don't consider this issue closed. I ask that you please upload the full 2022 Appendix K as soon as possible.

Thank you.

John Paff