Dear Mr. Milner:

On March 5, 2021, I received your request for government records pursuant to the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) and common law right of access. Please accept this letter as my response pursuant to OPRA.

Your request seeks “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.’”

Records responsive to your request are exempt from disclosure under OPRA pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 as records that necessarily include information regarding surveillance techniques and staffing levels, which, if disclosed, would create a risk to the safety of police officers. See Rivera v. Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey, GRC Complaint No. 2009-311 (Interim Order dated January 31, 2012); Rivera v. City of Plainfield Police Dep’t (Union), GRC Complaint No. 2009-317 (March 2012); Rivera v. City of Passaic (Passaic), GRC Complaint No. 2011-214 (Interim Order dated July 31, 2012), See also Durham v. NJ Dep’t of Corr., GRC Complaint No. 2012-35 (March 2013) and Edwards v. NJ Dep’t of Corr., GRC Complaint No. 2014-8
(September 2014) (concluding that correctional facility shift schedules are exempt from disclosure).

Your request under the common law is also denied. Under the common law, a request for government records is subject to a balancing test to weigh a municipality’s interest in nondisclosure against a requestor’s interest in obtaining the records. See Gilleran v. Twp. of Bloomfield, 227 N.J. 159, 177 (2016) (noting that to conduct a common law analysis for government records, the requestor must convey the reason that access to the records is required). You provide no reason for your access to these records. Therefore, the balancing test cannot be conducted.

This OPRA and common law request is now deemed answered and closed. If your request for access to a government record has been denied or unfilled within the statutory period required by law, you have a right to challenge the denial. 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, NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [email address], or at their web site at www.state.nj.us/grc. The GRC can also answer other questions about the law. All questions regarding complaints filed in Superior Court should be directed to the Court Clerk in your County.

Regards,

Capt. Steve Jones, MA, CPM
Police Records Custodian
Town of Boonton Police Department.
100 Washington St.
Boonton, NJ 07005
Tel. 973-402-9371 Ext. 601
Fax. 973-299-6970

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