As reported by NJ.com, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a ruling wherein video of New Jersey Police Officers chasing down and arresting suspects will not be turned over to the public and the media in many cases. A divided Supreme Court ruled 4-3  in the matter entitled Paff v. Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office that police dashboard videos are criminal investigatory records exempt under the State’s Open Public Records Act, known as OPRA, which is the primary method by which many police records are disclosed.

The decision still allows for some videos to be released, but largely cements a common practice among police departments across the State: refusing to release any video tied to a criminal investigation, sometimes even months or years after that investigation is closed. In a majority ruling last summer, the Supreme Court found that videos of deadly police shootings should be made public under what’s known as the common law right of access.  This case, however, argued a wider category of police videos should be made public, in part because they are records required to be maintained by order of local police chiefs and prosecutors.

Writing for the majority of the Court, Justice Anne Patterson found that while directives from the State Attorney General, the State’s top law enforcement official, carry the force of law, the same cannot be said for local police executives.  In other words, the majority found that, unless the Attorney General orders police officers to keep the cameras rolling, the video they produce are not subject to OPRA. In dissent, Justice Barry Albin wrote that the lesser-known common law right of access is “a difficult and burdensome path fraught with litigation and increased costs” that would limit the public’s access. To this end, the Supreme Court declined to weigh in on whether the video should have been released under the common law right of access, sending that question back to the lower court to rule upon.

Even before this decision, many police departments across the State only released dashboard or body camera footage in a few circumstances. Those included drunken driving cases, which are not motor vehicle violations nor criminal matters, and fatal police shootings. The particular video sought in the Paff matter depicted a 2014 incident in which a Tuckerton police officer utilized a K-9 on a woman during an arrest. Nevertheless, in the years between the Plaintiff’s initial request and the Supreme Court ruling, the video already surfaced and was published online by certain media outlets.

All New Jersey Public Safety Officers should be cognizant of the Supreme Court ruling to determine whether the practices of their respective departments will be altered to conform with the decision. To this end, please continue to check this blog periodically to ascertain important updates going forward.

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DONALD C. BARBATI, JR.

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues…

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues litigated before the courts and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Barbati also routinely represents individuals in various types of public pension appeals, real estate transactions, and general litigation matters. He is a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog, a free legal publication designed to keep New Jersey public safety officers up-to-date and informed about legal issues pertinent to their profession. During his years of practice, Mr. Barbati has established a reputation for achieving favorable results for his clients in a cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Barbati has also handled numerous novel legal issues while representing New Jersey Public Safety Officers. Most notably, he served as lead counsel for the Appellants in the published case In re Rodriguez, 423 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 2011). In that case, Mr. Barbati successfully argued on behalf of the Appellants, thereby overturning the Attorney General’s denial of counsel to two prison guards in a civil rights suit arising from an inmate assault.  In the process, the Court clarified the standard to be utilized by the Attorney General in assessing whether a public employee is entitled to legal representation and mandated that reliance must be placed on up-to-date information.

Prior to becoming a practicing attorney, Mr. Barbati served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage. During his clerkship Mr. Barbati handled numerous complex and novel substantive and procedural issues arising from complaints in lieu of prerogative writs, orders to show cause, and motion practice. These include appeals from decisions by planning and zoning boards and local government bodies, bidding challenges under the Local Public Contract Law, Open Public Records Act requests, the taking of private property under the eminent domain statute, and election law disputes. In addition, Mr. Barbati, as a certified mediator, mediated many small claims disputes in the Special Civil Part.

Mr. Barbati received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Mr. Barbati attended Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2007, he received his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, graduating in the top five percent of his class. During law school, Mr. Barbati interned for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey, assisting on various constitutional, employment, and Third Circuit Court of Appeals litigation, including numerous civil rights, social security, and immigration cases.