Recordings from Saketa Chadalavada DWI Arrest
Charlie Kratovil made this OPRA request to West Windsor Township Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.
Dear West Windsor Township,
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested:
Copies of all bodyworn camera (BWC), motor vehicle recorder (MVR), police radio transmissions, and other audio/video recordings from the arrest of Saketa Chadalavada on the evening of 2/18/24.
Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
Charlie Kratovil
We have received your OPRA. We normally have 7 business days to fill your request. If additional time is needed we will try and advise you within two days of receipt of OPRA.
Have a great day.
Allison D. Sheehan
Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
(609)799-2400 x225
www.westwindsornj.org
Received.
Allison D. Sheehan
Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
(609)799-2400 x225
www.westwindsornj.org
Please see the following information provided by our Police Records
Division. Please let us know how you would like to proceed.
The West Windsor Township Police Department finds it necessary to charge a
special service fee because the request involves an extraordinary
expenditure of time and effort related to video redaction. The cost is
based upon the hourly rate of the lowest level employee capable of
fulfilling the request and the estimated time necessary to ensure the
proper redaction. The cost for this redaction (which includes 14 hrs. of
time) will be $877.00, made payable to West Windsor Township. We will
require an extension of two weeks (2/11/25) to complete the redaction
process if you decide to continue as OPRA.
All BWC video - $377.00
All MVR video - $344.00
DWI Room video - $196.00
Attached are instructions for creating an account with Axon, as well as
how to view the video(s). Once the account is active, please respond and
provide the registered email address. Upon receipt of the email, the
video(s) will be sent via a link from Axon.
Stacey Mangone
Thank you,
Joei L Godin
Deputy Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
271 Clarksville Road
Ph: (609)799-2400 ext. 224
Email: [1][email address]
Township website: [2]www.westwindsornj.org
*To sign up for email blasts visit:
[3]https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Or scan:
[4]cid:image001.png@01DA841F.654BF3E0
Please be advised that the Township of West Windsor is subject to the New
Jersey Open Public Records Act. As such, any email sent or received by the
Township may be subject to a records request.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.westwindsornj.org/
3. https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Good evening, I am resending the information provided by our Police
Records Division that was sent on 1/21/25. Please advise on how you would
like to proceed.
From: Joei Godin
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2025 12:36 PM
To: [OPRA #70720 email]
Cc: Clerk <[email address]>; Stacey Mangone
<[email address]>
Subject: OPRA 2025-32 Kratovil
Please see the following information provided by our Police Records
Division. Please let us know how you would like to proceed.
The West Windsor Township Police Department finds it necessary to charge a
special service fee because the request involves an extraordinary
expenditure of time and effort related to video redaction. The cost is
based upon the hourly rate of the lowest level employee capable of
fulfilling the request and the estimated time necessary to ensure the
proper redaction. The cost for this redaction (which includes 14 hrs. of
time) will be $877.00, made payable to West Windsor Township. We will
require an extension of two weeks (2/11/25) to complete the redaction
process if you decide to continue as OPRA.
All BWC video - $377.00
All MVR video - $344.00
DWI Room video - $196.00
Attached are instructions for creating an account with Axon, as well as
how to view the video(s). Once the account is active, please respond and
provide the registered email address. Upon receipt of the email, the
video(s) will be sent via a link from Axon.
Stacey Mangone
Thank you,
Joei L Godin
Deputy Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
271 Clarksville Road
Ph: (609)799-2400 ext. 224
Email: [1][email address]
Township website: [2]www.westwindsornj.org
*To sign up for email blasts visit:
[3]https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Or scan:
[4]cid:image001.png@01DA841F.654BF3E0
Please be advised that the Township of West Windsor is subject to the New
Jersey Open Public Records Act. As such, any email sent or received by the
Township may be subject to a records request.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.westwindsornj.org/
3. https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Good Morning,
I am resending the information provided by our Police Records Division
that was sent on 1/21 and 1/24. This is my final attempt to contact you. I
will be closing this OPRA on 2/11/25 unless I receive a response on how
you would like to proceed with this request.
Thank you,
Joei L Godin
Deputy Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
271 Clarksville Road
Ph: (609)799-2400 ext. 224
Email: [1][email address]
Township website: [2]www.westwindsornj.org
*To sign up for email blasts visit:
[3]https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Or scan:
[4]cid:image001.png@01DA841F.654BF3E0
From: Joei Godin
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2025 4:35 PM
To: [OPRA #70720 email]
Cc: Clerk <[email address]>
Subject: OPRA 2025-32 Kratovil
Good evening, I am resending the information provided by our Police
Records Division that was sent on 1/21/25. Please advise on how you would
like to proceed.
From: Joei Godin
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2025 12:36 PM
To: [5][OPRA #70720 email]
Cc: Clerk <[6][email address]>; Stacey Mangone
<[7][email address]>
Subject: OPRA 2025-32 Kratovil
Please see the following information provided by our Police Records
Division. Please let us know how you would like to proceed.
The West Windsor Township Police Department finds it necessary to charge a
special service fee because the request involves an extraordinary
expenditure of time and effort related to video redaction. The cost is
based upon the hourly rate of the lowest level employee capable of
fulfilling the request and the estimated time necessary to ensure the
proper redaction. The cost for this redaction (which includes 14 hrs. of
time) will be $877.00, made payable to West Windsor Township. We will
require an extension of two weeks (2/11/25) to complete the redaction
process if you decide to continue as OPRA.
All BWC video - $377.00
All MVR video - $344.00
DWI Room video - $196.00
Attached are instructions for creating an account with Axon, as well as
how to view the video(s). Once the account is active, please respond and
provide the registered email address. Upon receipt of the email, the
video(s) will be sent via a link from Axon.
Stacey Mangone
Thank you,
Joei L Godin
Deputy Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
271 Clarksville Road
Ph: (609)799-2400 ext. 224
Email: [8][email address]
Township website: [9]www.westwindsornj.org
*To sign up for email blasts visit:
[10]https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Or scan:
[11]cid:image001.png@01DA841F.654BF3E0
Please be advised that the Township of West Windsor is subject to the New
Jersey Open Public Records Act. As such, any email sent or received by the
Township may be subject to a records request.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.westwindsornj.org/
3. https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
5. mailto:[OPRA #70720 email]
6. mailto:[email address]
7. mailto:[email address]
8. mailto:[email address]
9. http://www.westwindsornj.org/
10. https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Dear West Windsor Township,
I am in receipt of your messages from the West Windsor Police Department regarding my request for videos from the arrest of Saketa Chadalavada. I want you to know that we are actively saving/raising the funds to purchase these records. I also wanted to ask your office to reconsider the proposed charges.
First, I would like to learn more about what needs to be redacted from the videos I requested. I believe there would be very limited redactions necessary, if any. If we are going to pay for the recordings, I want to make sure we do not pay for inappropriate or unjustified redactions to be made. Any information you can provide about the redactions deemed necessary would be appreciated.
Also, I am making this request in my capacity as a reporter covering Middlesex and Mercer Counties for New Brunswick Today and Trenton Makes News. The defendant was elected in June 2024 to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, he was later appointed to a seat on the Middlesex County Planning Board, and he is the treasurer of record for the re-election campaign of Edison's Mayor. I require these records for an article I am working on about the defendant. For these reasons, West Windsor should release the records to me pursuant to the common law right of access, without any charge.
If you do not agree to release the records without a charge, I would respectfully ask you to reconsider the way you calculate the charge. Some departments I've requested videos from charge based on the duration of the footage requested, and they allow for a certain amount without any charge. For example, the Rutgers University Police Dept. releases up to 2 hours of footage before they propose a special service charge.
Finally, I hope that the videos can be provided as digital files without us having to create an account with any service, such as Axon's evidence.com. We would welcome a release of the recordings on a flash drive that we could pick up in person, on a flash drive ideally. Even better would be an electronic file transfer via Google Drive or WeTransfer.com. We are also open to other methods, but we must respectfully decline to create an account with Axon at this time, as creating such an account requires us to consent to terms of use that indicate the laws of the state of Arizona would apply to disputes. As our request was made pursuant to NJ state law, we prefer not to agree to those terms as a condition of having the request honored. I hope we can make other arrangements to transfer the recordings when the time comes. Please feel free to contact me directly at 732-993-9697 if you would like to discuss further.
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Kratovil
We have received your email on February 4^th and we will respond shortly.
Thank you,
Joei L Godin
Deputy Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
271 Clarksville Road
Ph: (609)799-2400 ext. 224
Email: [1][email address]
Township website: [2]www.westwindsornj.org
*To sign up for email blasts visit:
[3]https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Or scan:
[4]cid:image001.png@01DA841F.654BF3E0
Please be advised that the Township of West Windsor is subject to the New
Jersey Open Public Records Act. As such, any email sent or received by the
Township may be subject to a records request.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.westwindsornj.org/
3. https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Mr. Kratovil,
In review of your response dated 2/4/25 and after consultation with our
Township Attorney we decline your request to waive the fees. Please see
the information below provided by our Police Records Division. You will
need to advise us if you would like to proceed within the next 5 business
days (by 20 February), otherwise we will close this OPRA request.
2025-032 (Kratovil) Police Records Division response:
“The West Windsor Township Police Department finds it necessary to charge
a special service fee because the request involves an extraordinary
expenditure of time and effort related to video redaction. The cost is
based upon the hourly rate of the lowest level employee capable of
fulfilling the request and the estimated time necessary to ensure the
proper redaction. The cost for this redaction (which includes 14 hrs. of
time) will be $877.00, made payable to West Windsor Township.
All BWC video - $377.00
All MVR video - $344.00
DWI Room video - $196.00
Mr. Kratovil will be able to eliminate some of the fee and lower the
estimate if he instead asks for the body worn camera and/or dash camera
video from the lead or first responding officer instead of all of the
officers that arrived on scene. In this case, the lead/arresting officer
is Ptl. Fattibene.”
*If you would like to proceed we are able to put the information requested
on a flash drive for an additional fee of $3.00 for the flash drive. Once
we receive payment we will notify you when the flash drive is ready for
pick up.
Thank you,
Joei L Godin
Deputy Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
271 Clarksville Road
Ph: (609)799-2400 ext. 224
Email: [1][email address]
Township website: [2]www.westwindsornj.org
*To sign up for email blasts visit:
[3]https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Or scan:
[4]cid:image001.png@01DA841F.654BF3E0
Please be advised that the Township of West Windsor is subject to the New
Jersey Open Public Records Act. As such, any email sent or received by the
Township may be subject to a records request.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.westwindsornj.org/
3. https://cities.formstack.com/forms/wwema...
Dear West Windsor Township,
Regarding the request for recordings from the arrest of Saketa Chadalavada, I am kindly requesting that your office reconsider the special service charge as it is unclear to me what, if anything, needs redaction in these recordings. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. , I am concerned about the choice to impose a special service charge with no records provided until a charge is paid and no indication of what needs redaction. Is there anything special or extraordinary about this case (other than the prominence of the defendant)? Can you please provide some more information? If this is simply a routine request for recordings from a DWI, the application of a *special* service charge seems inappropriate. There is no provision for a routine service charge under the OPRA, so I ask you once again to reconsider the proposed charge(s).
Yours faithfully,
Charlie Kratovil
Good Afternoon Mr. Kratovil,
In response to your email dated 2/20/25 our Police Department provides the
following response:
“The West Windsor Township Police Department finds it necessary to charge
a special service fee because the request involves an extraordinary
expenditure of time (14 hours) and effort related to video redaction. The
cost is based upon the hourly rate of the lowest level employee capable of
fulfilling the request and the estimated time necessary to ensure the
proper redaction.
This is the same fee (adjusted to video length) charged for video
redaction as all other cases that require video redactions. The lowest
level employee trained in video redaction would need to review hours of
video to determine what needs redaction. These redactions would include
blurring the police vehicle mobile data terminal screen for CJIS
information, blurring driver’s license images, credit card images,
redacting date of birth audio, medical information, amount many other
things that require redaction per OPRA rules. Without reviewing the hours
of video, the officer is unable to provide a complete list of what
redactions are needed.
Mr. Kratovil will be able to eliminate some of the fee and lower the
estimate if he instead asks for the body worn camera and/or dash camera
video from the lead or first responding officer instead of all of the
officers that arrived on scene as well as processing video. In this case,
the lead/arresting officer is Ptl. Fattibene.”
Please confirm if you would like to revise your request as noted above.
If you would like to proceed as requested, we will be able to provide the
information on a flash drive for an additional fee of $3.00 for the flash
drive. Please note the fees as noted in our email to you on 2/12/25:
All BWC video - $377.00
All MVR video - $344.00
DWI Room video - $196.00
Once we receive payment we will notify you when the flash drive is ready
for pick up.
Thank you,
Allison D. Sheehan
Township Clerk
West Windsor Township
(609)799-2400 x225
[1]www.westwindsornj.org
Please be advised that the Township of West Windsor is subject to the New
Jersey Open Public Records Act. As such, any email sent or received by the
Township may be subject to a records request.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.westwindsornj.org/