8/6/2019 2011 07 18 - Crime Stats Belong to the People

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Crime Stats Belong to the People July 19, 2011

By JaxAdmin 

The objectives of maintaining peace, public safety andquality of life within Jackson Township are a high

 priority of the Jackson Township Police Department. To

 be effective and to fulfill this mission, law enforcement

requires accurate and timely crime statistics in order to

identify the extent, type, and location of criminal

activity. Criminal Justice administrators and planners

have long recognized the Uniform Crime Reporting

Program as a vehicle to accomplish this objective. This

is one of the underlying principals as to why the Uniform

Crime Reporting System of the New Jersey State Police

is so successful to the interests of more effective lawenforcement and to the eight million residents of New

Jersey.

Both Ray Cattonar and I have requested under OPRA

monthly copies of our Uniform Crime Reports for 2008-

2011. The Township Clerk and the Chief of Police have advised us that this request has been denied because

 pursuant to N.J.A.C. 13:57-1.3 (d). ³The uniform crime report form shall be used by the Uniform Crime

Reporting Unit of the Division of State Police for purposes of compliance with the provisions of N.J.S.A.

52:17B-1 et seq. and such working documents shall be maintained as confidential by the Division of State

Police and are not public records.

We have disagreed with that interpretation and have been advised by the New Jersey State Police and two

unrelated and independent attorneys that are requests are valid. In addition, we have identified to Township

officials numerous municipalities who are providing such information. We stopped counting after the first ten

responded positively. If you doubt the accuracy of this statement, as an example, we ask you to check out the

website of the Jersey City Police Department,http://www.njjcpd.org/jcpd website files_004.htm, which

 provides the most recent UCR (Uniform Crime Report) crime statistics data online for use by the public. Why

would Jackson believe that are request is inappropriate when no other Township we have contacted for their 

UCR statistics have denied our request? One of our attorneys has tried to discuss this issue with the Chief of 

Police and his return phone calls have not been acknowledged or returned as of the date of this letter.

 W e do not wish to aggravate an already precarious financial situation for the Township, but we are

prepared to sue the Township for access to this data. The Township can stand on principal and watch ourprofessional fees increase while the public has no better understanding of the crime trends within Jackson

Township.  W e strongly believe the public is entitled to know the crime statistics for the Township of 

Jackson and for the public to independently interpret them. For the last six months, we have heard a

consistent barrage of statements from the Chief and members of the Police Department of how crime was

rising in Jackson and why we needed to augment our police staff rather than cutting staff.  W e couldn¶t

agree more that cutting the Police Department may be the wrong thing to do at this time but there needs

to be some underlying data for escalating crime statements and it deserves to be presented to the public.

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 W e would be more than willing to forgo any litigation for this information if the Township could provide a

monthly report for 2008-2011 relating to these crime statistics.

Truthfully, however, why not simply provide us with the data that other municipalities have provided and

 which Jackson has already provided to the New Jersey State Police. It should not be necessary for us to

even request this under OPRA. It should be data that the Township provides on a regular basis and without the public having to ask for such data. It is our data, isn¶t it? It is data that our elected officials

should have requested and demanded from our Police Department and we did ask for it.  W e have not

gotten a response from them either as of this date. It is data that the Police Department should have

provided to the Administration. It is time to provide that data.  W e are currently awaiting a response from

the Mayor, Business Administrator and Township Council on the aforementioned. Each of you has the

power to request that this report be produced by the Police Department.  W e ask you to write or send

emails to the Mayor, Business Administrator and Township Council to produce this data and share it with

the public. Producing a report that identifies crime trends in Jackson makes sense and avoids any 

litigation. Hopefully, you will agree and conclude that this data should be provided and it should not cost

the public an arm and a leg to obtain it. Thank you. URL: http://opinion.jacksontwpnj.info/?p=480