OIS - Firearms Discharges
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | March 6, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Michael Owens
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
1) Incident-level data on Edison (NJ) Police Department officers’ drawing their weapons/firearms in the course of their duty: I request data from years 2000 to 2020, including the time, date, and street address (e.g. 123 Main St) for all incidents where an officer drew their weapon/firearm;
2) Incident-level data on the Edison (NJ) Police Department officers’ discharging their weapons/firearms in the course of their duty: I request data from years 2000 to 2020, including the time, date, and street address (e.g. 123 Main St) for all incidents where an officer discharged their firearm;
3) If incident-level data on the Edison (NJ) Police Department officers’ discharging their firearms in the course of duty from years 2000 to 2020 inclusive is available, I also request associated data on whether the shootings by the officers were lethal (i.e. suspects or civilians died as a result of gunshots from officers’ weapons) or were non-lethal (i.e. suspects or civilians were shot but did not die); and
4) Demographic data on the officers and suspects or civilians involved in each incident of Edison (NJ) Police Department officers drawing, discharging, and/or striking (lethal and non-lethal) of suspects or civilians.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Michael Owens
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New Jersey Open Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 6, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From:
Good Afternoon,
Extension on your opra. The new due date is 4/17/2023
Edison Police Department
Central Records
WARNING: Email received by or sent to Township officials is subject to the Open Public Records Act [OPRA]. This means that absent some specific privilege, all such communications are considered a public record and are subject to publication and/or dissemination to the public upon request.
From: Edison Police Department
Michael Owens,
Further clarification is needed in an attempt to complete your pending OPRA request. See below
1) Incident-level data on Edison (NJ) Police Department officers' drawing their weapons/firearms in the course of their duty: I request data from years 2000 to 2020, including the time, date, and street address (e.g. 123 Main St) for all incidents where an officer drew their weapon/firearm;
2) Incident-level data on the Edison (NJ) Police Department officers' discharging their weapons/firearms in the course of their duty: I request data from years 2000 to 2020, including the time, date, and street address (e.g. 123 Main St) for all incidents where an officer discharged their firearm;
3) If incident-level data on the Edison (NJ) Police Department officers' discharging their firearms in the course of duty from years 2000 to 2020 inclusive is available, I also request associated data on whether the shootings by the officers were lethal (i.e. suspects or civilians died as a result of gunshots from officers' weapons) or were non-lethal (i.e. suspects or civilians were shot but did not die); and
4) Demographic data on the officers and suspects or civilians involved in each incident of Edison (NJ) Police Department officers drawing, discharging, and/or striking (lethal and non-lethal) of suspects or civilians.
1). The above request is too broad and a search of the requested data was negative for any findings maintained by this Police Department.
2). Can you clarify if you are only requesting Use of Force incidents when an officer discharged their weapon/firearm or are you requesting all incidents when an officer discharged their weapon in the course of their duty, which would include euthanizing deer which falls outside of the Use of Force reporting and is a common occurrence in this Police Department?
For "2" and "3" the request for "Incident-level data" and "data", are you requesting only the time, date, and street address (e.g. 123 Main St) for each specific incident? If not then "Incident-level data" and "data" needs to be specified on the data you are requesting, specifically identify the records sought, as required by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f).
Any questions or concerns, please let me know.
Sergeant Michael Gallant
Records Bureau
Edison Police Department
100 Municiapl Blvd.
Edison, NJ 08817
(P) 732-248-7457
https://www.edisonpolice.org/records-bureau/
[cid:image001.png@01D9615A.E53336B0] [cid:image002.jpg@01D9615A.E53336B0]
WARNING: Email received by or sent to Township officials is subject to the Open Public Records Act [OPRA]. This means that absent some specific privilege, all such communications are considered a public record and are subject to publication and/or dissemination to the public upon request.
From: Michael Owens
Hello, Sergeant Gallant.
I appreciate your reply and request for clarifications.
To clarify, I request data on all incidents of firearms discharges by Edison Police Department officers their weapons at human subjects in the course of their duty for the years 2000 through 2020. For each incident I request to know the time, date, and street address of each incident, as well as, if possible, the race, gender, and age of the officers and suspects/civilians involved in each incident, and the outcome of the shooting (ie., whether the shooting was fatal or not).
Basically, I'm trying to know who (race, gender, age of suspects/civilians), when (date and time), and where (address) Edison police officers shot between the years 2000 and 2020, along with who (race, gender, age of police) did the shooting.
I hope that helps narrow my request.
Michael Owens
From: Edison Police Department
Good Afternoon,
Please see attached opra.
Have a great day!
Edison Police Department
Central Records
WARNING: Email received by or sent to Township officials is subject to the Open Public Records Act [OPRA]. This means that absent some specific privilege, all such communications are considered a public record and are subject to publication and/or dissemination to the public upon request.
From: Michael Owens
I thank you for providing me the records regarding the one shooting by Edison PD officers between 2000 and 2020. I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Michael Owens