Jersey Avenue Residents,
I am in receipt of your Open Public Records Request sent via email on
January 24, 2025 for the following: 
1) For the period of January 2009 - March 2025 all Police reports for any
and all motor vehicle incidents/accidents occurring on Route 71 between
Ocean Road and Shore Road including those reports referencing
locations/intersections of Jose's restaurant, Dunkin Donuts, Bagel Basket,
Benny's restaurant, Capsize restaurant, NAPA auto parts, Harold's garage

Pursuant to the requirements of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq (hereinafter “Open
Public Records Act” or OPRA) we herewith provide the following response to
your Open Public Records Act Request.  Please note that the Custodian of
the Records has sought and is producing only those records defined as
follows:

“Government record” or “record” means any paper, written or printed book,
document, drawing, map, plan, photograph, microfilm, data processed or
image processed document, information stored or maintained electronically
or by sound-recording or in a similar device, or any copy thereof, that
has been made, maintained or kept on file in the course of his or its
official business by any officer, commission, agency or authority of the
State or of any political subdivision thereof, including subordinate
boards thereof, or that has been received in the course of his or its
official business by any such officer, commission, agency, or authority of
the State or of any political subdivision thereof, including subordinate
boards thereof”.

This is not a request for a government record.  OPRA does not require
record custodians to conduct research among its records for a requester
and correlate data from various government records in the custodian's
possession. (if such information or records exist) OPRA only allows
requests for records, not requests for information, and therefore, it is
incumbent on the requestor to perform any correlations and analysis it may
desire.

Such an open-ended demand required the records custodian to manually
search through all of the files, analyze, compile and collate the
information which might be contained therein.   Further, once the specific
records were identified, the records custodian would then be required to
evaluate, sort out, and determine the documents to be produced and those
otherwise exempted. While OPRA provides significant access to governmental
records, your request is not a proper one as it is broad-based demand for
research and analysis not a public records request.

Please be advised that N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6 provides that a person who is
denied access to a government record by the custodian of the record, at
the option of the requestor, may institute a proceeding to challenge the
custodian's decision by filing an action in Superior Court which shall be
heard in the vicinage where it is filed by a Superior Court Judge who has
been designated to hear such cases because of that judge's knowledge and
expertise in matters relating to access to government records; or in lieu
of filing an action in Superior Court, file a complaint with the
Government Records Council established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-7.

The right to institute any proceeding shall be solely that of the
requestor. Any such proceeding shall proceed in a summary or expedited
manner. The public agency shall have the burden of proving that the denial
of access is authorized by law. If it is determined that access has been
improperly denied, the court or agency head shall order that access be
allowed. A requestor who prevails in any proceeding shall be entitled to a
reasonable attorney's fee.

Very truly yours,

Janine Gillis
Borough Clerk  

Janine Gillis, RMC, CMR
Borough Clerk
Assistant Borough Administrator
Certified Municipal Registrar
Borough of Spring Lake Heights
555 Brighton Avenue
Spring Lake Heights, New Jersey  07762
 
732.449.3500 phone
732.449.3535 fax