Because you identified "police records" along with the date range and names, and because police reports are electronic and therefore searchable with those parameters, the Police Records Clerk was able to search on the names "Tom Hardin", "Thomas Hardin", and "Hardin". There are no police reports that contain those names.

However, in general I find your request to be overly broad. In Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005), the Court determined “. . . a proper request under OPRA must identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired, and a party cannot satisfy this requirement by simply requesting all of an agency's documents.” If the police reports were not the documents you were seeking, you will need to submit a new request identifying which department’s files, and which documents within those files, you are requesting under OPRA.

Please be advised that Borough documents are typically filed by Block and Lot/Address, or a category/subject within that department’s records parameters. While a name may be contained within a document, no documents are identified or filed based on a last name only. The vast majority of Borough records were, and still are, paper and are not easily searchable. Regardless, pursuant to MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super 534, 546 (App. Div. 2005) it is not incumbent upon the Record Custodian to perform research to identify records responsive to an OPRA request, just to retrieve the identified records and provide them. That said, I am happy to help you determine how any given department maintains its files so you can submit the necessary detail that identifies the record you want me to provide. I can be reached at the below number Monday-Friday from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm.

Karen Hughes, RMC
Borough Clerk
Assistant Borough Administrator
Borough of Westwood
101 Washington Avenue
Westwood, NJ 07675
201-664-7100 ext. 101
fax:  201-664-4260

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