FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
CHIEF THOMAS DELLANE STAFFORD TOWNSHIP PD
The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | April 2023
Since the state enacted the Open Public Records Act ( OPRA ) in 2002 , it has served as an important tool for residents to receive prompt , transparent and accurate information about government operations .
But it has also been abused by profiteers , misusing public resources to wrangle free research and collect personal information .
While it costs little , if any , money for businesses to file OPRA requests to learn , for example , who has been arrested and for what charges , municipalities have needed to greatly increase the number of staff hours required to fulfill the requests , as mandated by state law .
OPRA , in many cases , has become a tool for the private sector to make money . That was not its intent . It is time to amend the act to limit requests from commercial entities that use public records and the “ free ” service of government employees to help their businesses thrive .
Requests for police records have risen dramatically over the years . Exemptions are very limited ; an OPRA request can now include footage from body worn cameras , dash cameras and taser use . Although OPRA does exempt certain victim records from disclosure , this exception does not include records maintained by police departments . The effective result is that the public has easy access to information about victims collected through police records that must be made public .
The law inadvertently allows people to be revictimized , as their information is made public , as well as face a loss of privacy . Police departments do what they can to redact personal information , as allowed by OPRA . But it is time consuming . For example , it can take three hours or more of video editing to redact just one hour of body worn camera footage .
There are many ways to address this issue , such as allowing more time for police departments to comply with requests , redact records of minors , prohibit attorneys from using OPRA for discovery and require victims to consent to their information being shared publicly .
These modifications should not be driven by law enforcement . We are calling for the creation of a special committee , comprising elected officials , municipal attorneys , police , open government advocates , the media and victims ’ rights advocates to examine public records and develop updated guidelines that fulfills the objective of OPRA , but also addresses the many pitfalls .
NJSACOP has identified other issues of concern related to OPRA , such as :
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“ Weaponizing ” OPRA We have found that residents unhappy with a certain government action will file multiple , multi-layer OPRA requests on a regular basis . A requestor filing hundreds of requests a year can quickly overwhelm police officers and support staff in the police department . Instead of meeting the needs of the public , staff is consumed by the demands of a requester whose top concern is not government transparency , but rather to be an intentional obstructionist .
There needs to be a course of action for local government to prevent OPRA abuse if the individual ’ s prime objective is harassment . We suggest a course of action that is progressive , beginning with fines and , if the issue is not resolved , ultimately prohibiting the person from filing OPRA requests for a certain period .
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Exempt Personal Records from Disclosure As law enforcement is focused on protecting the public , OPRA needs to do the same . Along with the transparency of government is the responsibility to safeguard the community ’ s privacy . Documents released under OPRA often have personal information that people would not give out themselves , such as email addresses , cell numbers , dates of birth and driver ’ s license numbers .
It is clear that a fraudster can easily turn to OPRA if he or she is looking to steal someone ’ s identity . Moreover , OPRA does not allow an exemption for the release of information related to children .
In a world where identity theft is rampant , as well as expensive for the victim , New Jersey needs to ensure public records support transparency , not criminal activity .
Lawmakers must recognize that OPRA was signed in January 2002 – at a time before cyberattacks , modern online research tools and rapid advances in technology . Our state leaders debated and crafted OPRA before the September 11 attacks , when this was a very different country in terms of safety and security .
While concerns about privacy and identity theft have been raised and addressed , OPRA still marches blindly under a mandate from two decades ago . To safeguard the public – and keep law enforcement focused on its main tasks at hand – the state should consider modernizing OPRA , beginning with legislative hearings .
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