Lately, I’ve been challenging government agencies that appear to have gone out of their way to make submitting Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests as difficult as possible. In furtherance of this plan, I filed a Government Records Council (GRC) Denial of Access Complaint today against the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office (SCPO). My complaint is on-line here.
My complaint asserts three charges against the SCPO: 1) that it insists that its specific agency form must be used for an OPRA request; 2) that it requires requestors to “deliver [the completed form] in person” and 3) that it contains limiting language that the GRC has already found deters citizens from making requests. Also troublesome, although not listed in my complaint, is the form’s question that asks if the requestor is a United States Citizen and a space on the form referencing the type of “identification provided” by the requestor.
I have filed similar complaints against other agencies that have led to them adopting a simpler procedures. For example, information on my complaint against the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is on-line here.
