Gilleran OPRA can require town and police to provide video of security c...

OPRA can require town and police to provide video of security camera. Gilleran v. Twp. of Bloomfield 440 N.J. Super. 490 (App.Div. 2015)

     The Open Public Records Act (OPRA) does not include a blanket exemption for video recordings made from an outdoor security camera. To justify denying an OPRA request pursuant to the definitional exclusions contained in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1 for "security information," "procedures," "measures," and "techniques," the government agency must make a specific showing of why disclosure would jeopardize the security of the facility or put the safety of persons or property at risk.

Because we agree with the trial court that the township did not make a sufficiently specific showing for an exemption, we need not decide whether N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g) requires a government agency to review requested recordings and redact only actual confidential information, as argued by plaintiff and the ACLU. Such a requirement of review and redaction seems  impractical and virtually impossible to implement when the request is for lengthy surveillance recordings, such as the fourteen hours of recordings requested here by plaintiff.