State trooper killed his dog
Dear Wayne 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:
I would like a copy of all photographs, bwc video footage and police reports for the incident where the nj state trooper shot his dog and police responded from march 1, 2025 through April 2, 2025 as reported in the news
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. 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,
William Bailey
The entirety of your request has been denied due to the following statutes regarding OPRA exemptions:
47:1A-3 Access to records of investigation in progress.
a. Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L. 1963, c. 73 (C. 47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented, where it shall appear that the record or records which are sought to be inspected, copied, or examined shall pertain to an investigation in progress by any public agency, the right of access provided for in P.L. 1963, c. 73 (C. 47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented may be denied if the inspection, copying or examination of such record or records shall be inimical to the public interest; provided, however, that this provision shall not be construed to allow any public agency to prohibit access to a record of that agency that was open for public inspection, examination, or copying before the investigation commenced. Whenever a public agency, during the course of an investigation, obtains from another public agency a government record that was open for public inspection, examination or copying before the investigation commenced, the investigating agency shall provide the other agency with sufficient access to the record to allow the other agency to comply with requests made pursuant to P.L. 1963, c. 73 (C. 47:1A-1 et seq.)
N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(l)(3).
Please be advised that the potentially responsive body worn camera ("BWC") footage is legally exempt from public access under OPRA. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-9 provides that OPRA "shall not abrogate any exemption of a public record or government record from public access heretofore made pursuant to any other statute." N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5 (the "Body Worn Camera Law" hereinafter "BWCL") provides in pertinent part, "[n]otwithstanding that a criminal investigatory record does not constitute a government record under [OPRA], only the following body worn camera recordings shall be exempt from public inspection: body worn camera recordings subject to a minimum three-year retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to subparagraph (a), (b), (c), or (d) of paragraph (2) of subsection j. of this section. N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(l)(3)." A BWC video recording in which the law enforcement officer whose body worn camera made the video recording reasonably asserts the recording has evidentiary or exculpatory value must be retained for a minimum of three years. N.J.S.A. 40A:14-l 18.5j(2)(a) and (c). As the potentially responsive footage at issue is subject to the minimum three-year statutory retention period on that basis, the Township is legally precluded from releasing same.
This request is now closed.
Scott Buehler
Operations Division
Wayne Police Department
475 Valley Road | Wayne, NJ 07470
973-694-0600 ext. 3574
[email address]