The Township of Bloomfield received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA)
Request on March 5, 2021.  As such, the seven (7) business day deadline to
respond to your request is March 16, 2021.  This response to your request
is being provided to you on the 7th business day after the Township’s
receipt of said request.

Your OPRA request sought access to the following:  Please provide me with
a list of the number of patrolmen on duty, in patrol cars, during a normal
weekday, 10 hour shift.  The document is called a "Patrol Shift Roster".

The following records are being provided in their entirety and are the
ONLY documents in the Township’s possession responsive to your request:

1.        From the Township’s Police Department the request is denied for
the following reasons:

v  To the extent that your request did not specify an identifiable
government record but instead sought information (“a list of the number of
patrolmen on duty, in patrol cars, during a normal weekday, 1o hour
shift”), your request is invalid. Mag Entertainment LLC. V. Div. of
Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J.Super. 534 (App. Div. 2005); Bent v.
Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J.Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005). Your OPRA
request sought data or information rather than an identifiable record. The
New Jersey Superior Court has held that "[w]hile OPRA provides an
alternative means of access to government documents not otherwise exempted
from its reach, it is not intended as a research tool litigants may use to
force government officials to identify and siphon useful information.
Rather, OPRA simply operates to make identifiable government records
"readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination." N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1." (Emphasis added.) Mag Entertainment, LLC v. Division of
Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J.Super 534, 546 (App. Div. 2005). The
Court further held that "[u]nder OPRA, agencies are required to disclose
only "identifiable" government records not otherwise exempt ... In short,
OPRA does not countenance open-ended searches of an agency's files."
(Emphasis added.) Id. at 549.

v  Furthermore, to the extent that your request is seeking a personnel
record of the Township of Bloomfield, i.e., your reference to a “Patrol
Shift Roster”, it is denied because such personnel records are considered
a public record. OPRA provides that: “… the personnel or pension records
of any individual in the possession of a public agency, including but not
limited to records relating to any grievance filed by or against an
individual, shall not be considered a government record and shall not be
made available for public access, except that: an individual's name,
title, position, salary, payroll record, length of service, date of
separation and the reason therefor, and the amount and type of any pension
received shall be a government record …” (Emphasis added.) N.J.S.A.
47:1A-10.

v  Finally, to the extent that your request encompasses or is intended to
include or is a request for a “Patrol Shift Roster”, the request is denied
as a “Patrol Shift Roster” is exempt from the definition of a government
record pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1. because such records necessarily
include details regarding surveillance techniques and staffing levels
which, if disclosed, could pose a risk to the safety of police personnel
as well as civilians employed by the Township of Bloomfield.

These records are being transmitted to you via email as per your request.

If your request for access to a government record has been denied or
unfulfilled within the seven (7) business days required by law, you have a
right to challenge the decision by the Township of Bloomfield to deny
access.  At your option, you may either institute a proceeding in the
Superior Court of New Jersey, or file a complaint with the Government
Records Council (GRC) by completing the Denial of Access Complaint Form. 
You may contact the GRC by toll-free telephone at 866-850-0511, by mail at
P.O. Box 819, Trenton, New Jersey, 08625, by e-mail at
[1][email address], or at their website at [2]www.state.nj.us/grc. 
The GRC can also answer other questions about the law.  All questions
regarding complaints filed in the Superior Court should be directed to the
Court Clerk in your County.

Thank you.

Andrea Schneider

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.state.nj.us/grc