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 Stanhope Police Department's website at stanhopepolice.us/index2.html 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place that I didn't check), please inform me of the URL where the "missing" files reside and consider this OPRA request withdrawn.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 no Internal Affairs reports. 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 Stanhope 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 Stanhope 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 Stanhope 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 Stanhope Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.1 for not having its 2020, 2021 and 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 Stanhope Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.2 for not having its major discipline reports from 2020, 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 Stanhope 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 Stanhope 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 Stanhope Police Department's Internal Affairs major discipline reports (i.e. those required to be filed by IAPP Section 9.11.2) covering 2020, 2021 and 2022 with the Sussex County Prosecutor.

4. The Stanhope Police Department's Internal Affairs major discipline reports (i.e. those required to be filed by IAPP Section 9.11.2) covering 2020, 2021 and 2022.

5. In lieu of responding to Nos. 1 through 4 above, the Stanhope Police Department may satisfy this request by a) uploading the summary reports covering 2020, 2021 and 2022 and the major discipline reports covering 2020, 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.

Ms. Horak:

I want to make sure you understand that there are two different kinds of reports at issue here: a) summary reports and b) major discipline reports. In your March 1, 2023 response, you provided me with summary reports from 2020, 2021 and 2022. In your March 23, 2023 response, you provided me with better, more detailed versions of the summary reports from 2020, 2021 and 2022.

I have yet to receive any of the major discipline reports. I can see from the summary reports that the major discipline reports will almost certainly report that no major discipline was imposed during 2020, 2021 and 2022. Still, however, those reports are within the scope of my request and the police department should furnish them to you so that you can give them to me.

I withdraw Nos. 1 and 3 of my request for transmittal letters, etc.

I appreciate that the Borough is now reviewing the necessity of posting the reports on the website. I've marked my calendar to check back in a month.

Thank you.