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 Paterson Police Department's website at patersonpd.com/internal-affairs/annual-internal-affairs-summary.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place that I didn't check), please inform me of the URL where the "missing" files reside and consider this OPRA request withdrawn.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 found a 2020 and 2021 summary report where not all the columns are visible and just the first page of the 2022 summary report instead of the full eight-pages.

By way of background, IAPP Section 9.11.1 requires the Paterson Police Department to file with the Passaic 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 Paterson 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 Paterson Police Department to publish those major discipline reports on-line, in one form or another, and to file them with the Passaic 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 Paterson Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.1 for not having complete and readable versions of its 2020, 2021 and 2022 summary reports posted on-line. I further believe that the Paterson Police Department is in violation of IAPP Section 9.11.2 for not having its major discipline reports from 2022 posted on its website 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 Passaic County Prosecutor as required by IAPP Section 9.11.1 and 2.

RECORDS REQUESTED:

1. The Paterson 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. Please ensure that the 2022 report is in the form of an Appendix K.

2. The Paterson Police Department's Internal Affairs major discipline report for 2022 in the form of an Appendix L.