Recordings - December 28, 2021 Crash Involving Mayor
Charlie Kratovil made this OPRA request to Carteret Police Department This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Carteret Police Department,
Under OPRA and the common law right of access, please provide copies of all recordings (MVR, BWC, and other recordings, including dispatch/radio recordings) related to CPD's response to the motor vehicle accident/crash at Carteret & Taylor on the evening of December 28, 2021.
Yours faithfully,
Charlie Kratovil
Dear Charlie Kratovil
*other recordings, including dispatch/radio recordings related to CPD's
response to the motor vehicle accident/crash at Carteret & Taylor on the
evening of December 28, 2021.
N.J.S.A 47:1A-1 .These records are criminal investigator records, and
such are exempt from release under OPRA. Pursuant to NJSA 47:1A-1.1,
criminal investigator records are “records which are not required by law
to be made, maintained or kept on file that are held by a law enforcement
agency which pertain to any criminal investigation or related civil
enforcement proceeding
N.J.S.A 47:1A-1 Privacy Interest – a public agency has a responsibility
and an obligation to safeguard from public access a citizens personal
information with which it has been entrusted when disclosure thereof would
violate the citizens reasonable expectation of privacy.
Executive Order No. 21 (McGreevey 2002)
Records where inspection, examination or copying would substantially
interfere with the State's ability to protect and defend the State and its
citizens .
N.J.S.A 47:1A-1.1Security measures and surveillance techniques which, if
disclosed, would create a risk to the safety or persons, property,
electronic data or software.
*MVR, BWC, related to CPD's response to the motor vehicle accident/crash
at Carteret & Taylor on the evening of December 28, 2021.
Your video footage from body cameras and dash cameras request is
voluminous. I am currently continuing to review and redact the dash cam
recordings and BWC’s considering the principles of law concerning OPRA and
will supply them upon completion.
An extension until February 10,2022 is requested.
If you are requesting under common law, you must articulate your legal
interest in the subject matter contained in the material, then the
material may be disclosed if under a balancing test your right of access
outweighs the states interest in preventing disclosure. Please articulate
your legal interest.
If your request for access to a government record has been denied or
unfilled within seven (7) business days by law, you have the right to
challenge the decision by the Carteret Police Department 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. In
addition to the website, information can be obtained from GRC Staff by
email [1][email address], toll-free phone number
(866-855-0511), fax (609-633-6337), or by US mail at PO Box 819, Trenton,
New Jersey, 08625-0819.
Respectfully,
Capt Jeff Van Woeart
Carteret Police
732-541-4181
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From: VanWoeart, Jeffrey
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2022 12:48 PM
To: Mcfadden, Dennis
Subject: FW: OPRA request - Recordings - December 28, 2021 Crash Involving
Mayor
Dear Charlie Kratovil,
The following MVR and BWC for MVA I-2021-054497 have been located and
supplied :
PO Anthony Kassis BWC 13
The videos capture the officers Mobile Data terminal and license plates
which were redacted considering the principles of law listed below.
PO Kassis MVR 5
The videos captures citizens and license plates which were redacted
considering the principles of law listed below.
PO Matthew Failace BWC 30
The videos captures involved persons, citizens, license plates, the
officers pad, involved persons personal information, involved persons
medical information, an officers schedule and a CFD EMT’s lab top.
Redactions were made considering the principles of law listed below.
PO Matthew Failace MVR 25 Part 1 and 2
The videos capture involved persons, citizens, license plates, involved
persons receiving medical treatment. Redactions were made considering the
principles of law listed below
Sgt Terebetski BWC 49 Part 1 and 2
The videos captures involved persons, citizens, license plates and
involved persons receiving medical treatment, an involved persons personal
information and an officers schedule . Redactions were made considering
the principles of law listed below.
PO John Moody BWC 78
The videos captures license plates . Redactions were made considering the
principles of law listed below.
PO Moody MVR 17
The videos captures citizens and license plates which were redacted
considering the principles of law listed below.
PO Javier Diaz BWC 73
The videos captures involved persons, citizens, license plates and
involved persons receiving medical treatment. Redactions were made
considering the principles of law listed below.
The Health Insurance Probability and Accountability Act
N.J.S.A 47:1A-1 Privacy Interest – a public agency has a responsibility
and an obligation to safeguard from public access a citizens personal
information with which it has been entrusted when disclosure thereof would
violate the citizens reasonable expectation of privacy.
N.J.S.A 47:1A-1.1 Emergency or security information or procedures for any
buildings or facility which, if disclosed, would jeopardize security of
the building or facility or persons therein.
Security measures and surveillance techniques which, if disclosed, would
create a risk to the safety or persons, property, electronic data or
software.
State of New Jersey Executive Order #69 .WHEREAS, Section 3(e) of
Executive Order No. 9, issued by Governor Richard Hughes in 1963, and
reaffirmed by Executive Order No. 123, issued by Governor Thomas H. Kean
in 1983, states that fingerprint cards, plates and photographs and other
similar criminal investigation records which are required to be made,
maintained or kept by any State or local governmental agency shall shall
not be deemed to be public records subject to inspection and examination
and available for copying pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 73.
A 911 on December 28,2021 at approximately 2216 Hrs. was located. A
license plate was captured from the radio in the background and was
redacted considering the principles of law State of New Jersey Executive
Order #69
If your request for access to a government record has been denied or
unfilled within seven (7) business days by law, you have the right to
challenge the decision by the Carteret Police Department 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. In
addition to the website, information can be obtained from GRC Staff by
email [1][email address], toll-free phone number
(866-855-0511), fax (609-633-6337), or by US mail at PO Box 819, Trenton,
New Jersey, 08625-0819.
Please make arrangements with our records Bureau to obtain your DVD.
732-541-4181
Respectfully,
[2]new capt-admin2.jpg jan 2022
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Hello Captain,
Thank you for your responses.
On January 31, you requested that I articulate my common law interest in the matter. I am a journalist who has been covering Middlesex County for over 10 years, and I'm working on a series of articles about the Borough of Carteret. There is no doubt that this incident is a newsworthy event as the Mayor suffered injuries and was charged with a motor vehicle offense by your department. Further, there was apparently property damage, a police department response, a fire department response, ample news media coverage, and there will likely be one or more forthcoming court cases as a result of the incident. As such, the material requested is of great interest to me and to my publication, New Brunswick Today.
I must object to some of the redactions. First and foremost, you cited that some records are "criminal investigator records" but I am unclear what crime is under investigation. Can you confirm that this is a criminal investigation? On January 31, the Borough Attorney stated that he does not believe there is a criminal investigation related to the incident. If he is correct, the criminal investigatory exemption of the Open Public Records Act should not apply to any of the records in question.
You also cite the "privacy interest" exemption of OPRA, but you don't indicate any specifics. What personal information do you believe is contained in these records that, if disclosed, would violate a citizen's reasonable expectation of privacy? Please explain whose privacy you believe would be violated.
You also cite EO 21 and indicate that some of the records would substantially interfere with the State's ability to protect and defend the State and its citizens. Please explain how releasing the requested records would interfere with the protection and defense of the State and its citizens.
You also cite "security measures and surveillance techniques." Were there any security measures or surveillance techniques documented in these records? If so, please explain how their disclosure would create a risk to the safety or persons, property, electronic data or software.
You also cite the "Health Insurance Probability and Accountability Act." I believe you are most likely referring to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, a federal law better known as HIPAA. I do not believe the Carteret Police Department is covered by the Privacy Rule stemming from this law. Please advise if this is the law you are referring to, and whether or not you believe CPD is covered by it.
Further, the video recordings provided are redacted, according to you, because they capture:
1) involved persons and/or citizens
2) license plates
3) officers' schedules
4) an officer's "Mobile Data terminal" and a CFD EMT's "lab top"
5) involved persons receiving medical treatment and involved persons' personal/medical information
It's unfortunate that you spent significant time making so many redactions to the videos, because much or all of this information did not need to be and should not have been redacted.
Persons/citizens, regardless of their involvement in the incident, were all visible from a public street, and therefore, there was no need to redact their images. Regarding license plates, you already provided me with a copy of the MVA report for this incident, which contains the license plates for all involved vehicles, unredacted. Similarly, any other vehicles with license plates displayed in such a fashion that they were visible from the public street, did not need to be redacted. There is no exemption of OPRA that requires redaction of license plates, so the efforts made to redact them were completely unnecessary. I also believe your decision to redact portions of the recordings that reference officers' schedules is unnecessary, as these would most likely be schedules from the past. With regard to the Mobile Data terminal and the "lab top" I must ask what information was displayed on those devices that warrants redaction. If the information displayed is not exempt from disclosure, there was no reason to redact those portions of the videos. I would also ask you to re-evaluate your decision to redact persons receiving medical treatment and involved persons' personal/medical information in light of the inapplicability of HIPAA to CPD.
Please provide the requested dispatch/radio recordings related to CPD's response to the crash in question. Additionally, please provide an unredacted version of the 9-1-1 call, and unredacted versions of the video recordings.
Finally, I must also raise a concern that I was required to pay $2 for two DVD's containing the response to my request. Per your instructions, I called the Records Bureau yesterday to make arrangements to pick up what I was told was a single DVD. It's my understanding that all of the records provided would have fit on a single DVD, so it's unclear why CPD provided the records on two separate discs. Further, you never asked me if I was willing to pay any cost, and you never indicated an amount that I would be asked to pay. When I called, the Records Bureau made no mention of a cost. But when I arrived, I was asked not only for payment but also for identification, which I believe was wholly unnecessary. I was not informed of either the cost or the identification requirement in advance. I drove approximately 30 minutes to pick up the records, and it would have been wasted time if I did not happen to have cash on me when I arrived. In the future, if there is a requirement for me to bring anything with me in order for CPD to produce a response to my requests, please advise me of the same in advance so there are no further surprises. Additionally, I would ask that you waive any further costs with respect to this request. Thank you again for the responses, and for your time.
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Kratovil
Dear Captain,
I'm following up on my February 4 message regarding the inadequate production of records in response to my request. Please confirm you have received this message and respond accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Kratovil