How to get police and traffic camera video of a crash in New Jersey

The public records law that gets you the video

New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq., as amended by P.L.2024, c.16

7 business days; electronic copies free

Government records, including photographs and information stored electronically or by sound recording, must be open to any person unless an exemption applies (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1, 47:1A-5(a)), and limits on access are construed in favor of the public (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1). A request must be in writing and delivered, mailed, emailed or otherwise sent to the agency’s records custodian, on the agency’s OPRA form or in a letter or email containing everything the form asks for; a request is not filed until the custodian receives it, and a telephone request is not an OPRA request (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f), (g), (h)). Since the 2024 amendments (P.L.2024, c.16, effective September 3, 2024, per the Government Records Council), the form asks you to certify whether you are seeking the record for a commercial purpose and whether you seek it in connection with a legal proceeding, and a party to a legal proceeding may not use OPRA for a record that is the subject of a court order, including a pending discovery request (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f), (g)). Deadline: the custodian must grant or deny access as soon as possible, but not later than seven business days after receiving the request (14 business days for commercial requests or records needing review under the Daniel’s Law address-privacy statute); a custodian may take a reasonable extension for unforeseen circumstances if it tells you within seven business days; records in storage or archived must be made available within 21 business days after you are told so; and silence past the deadline is a deemed denial, unless you chose not to identify yourself accurately or give an accurate address, email or phone number (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i)). Fees: paper copies are $0.05 per letter-size page and $0.07 per legal-size page; electronic records and non-printed materials, such as video, are free except the actual cost of supplies such as discs; no fee applies if the custodian points you to the record on a website; and if the custodian must convert a record to the medium you asked for, it may add a reasonable special service fee based on actual cost (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(b), (d)). A deposit may be required if copying will cost more than $5 (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f)). A custodian that withholds part of a record must redact it and release the rest (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g)). Example, New Jersey State Police: send requests through the NJ OPRA portal linked from its OPRA page, or by email to NJSPOPRA@njsp.gov, fax, mail to New Jersey State Police, Attn: Open Public Records Unit, P.O. Box 7068, West Trenton, NJ 08628, or in person at the Division Headquarters front gate, 1040 River Road, West Trenton; its page says the custodian responds within 7 business days of a written, signed request.

Police body camera and dashcam video

Ask for 3-year hold; 180-day minimum

Body cameras: every uniformed State, county and municipal patrol officer must wear a body worn camera while performing official duties, with listed exceptions and subject to funding (N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.3), and the camera must be recording whenever the officer responds to a call for service or starts any other law enforcement or investigative encounter with a member of the public, until the encounter has fully concluded and the officer leaves the scene (N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(c)(1)). Retention: every recording must be kept at least 180 days from the date it was recorded and then permanently deleted unless a longer period applies (§40A:14-118.5(j)). It is kept at least three years automatically if a subject of the recording registers a complaint about the encounter, and at least three years if a member of the public who is a subject of the recording asks (or the parent or guardian of a minor subject, or a deceased subject’s next of kin or legally authorized designee); a recording that pertains to a criminal investigation or may be subject to discovery in a prosecution is kept as evidence (§40A:14-118.5(j)(1), (j)(2), (j)(3)). A “subject” includes a suspect, victim, injured party or person talking with the officer, but not someone who only incidentally appears (§40A:14-118.5(a)). To decide whether to ask for the three-year period, a subject may review the recording under OPRA (§40A:14-118.5(k)). In Fuster v. Township of Chatham (A-33-23, decided January 21, 2025), the New Jersey Supreme Court held that once the subject had already asked for three-year retention, subsection (k) no longer gave him a right to review; it nonetheless ordered the video released to him and his wife under OPRA, without reaching their common law claims, because no OPRA exemption supported withholding it in that case. Public access: “notwithstanding” OPRA’s criminal investigatory records exclusion, the statute lists the only body camera recordings exempt from public inspection: recordings held only for the 180-day minimum (no three-year or other additional retention); three-year recordings kept only because a subject complained, if that subject asks that it not be made public; three-year recordings kept only at an officer’s, supervisor’s or training request; and three-year recordings kept only at a member of the public’s request, if that person asks that it not be made public (§40A:14-118.5(l)). In Fuster the Court declined to decide whether that list displaces OPRA’s other exemptions. The Attorney General’s Body Worn Camera Policy (Directive 2022-1, January 2022) requires an agency that receives an OPRA request, subpoena or court order for a recording to notify the county prosecutor (or the Division of Criminal Justice for a state agency) within one business day and before complying. Dashcams: municipal police vehicles acquired on or after the 2014 law and primarily used for traffic stops must have a mobile video recording system (N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.1), but no statute sets release rules for dashcam video, so OPRA and the common law govern. In Paff v. Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office (A-17-16, decided August 13, 2018), the Supreme Court held that dashcam recordings made under a police chief’s general order were not “required by law” and, because they pertained to a criminal investigation, were criminal investigatory records outside OPRA, and sent the common law claim back to the trial court; in North Jersey Media Group v. Township of Lyndhurst (A-35-15, decided July 11, 2017), it ordered dashcam footage of a fatal police shooting released under the common law right of access. Whether a crash recording pertains to a criminal investigation depends on the facts.

When police can hold video back

Two exemptions; no fixed end date

OPRA excludes “criminal investigatory records” from the definition of a government record: records not required by law to be made, maintained or kept on file that are held by a law enforcement agency and pertain to any criminal investigation or related civil enforcement proceeding (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1). The Supreme Court applies both parts: a record required by law, such as a report an Attorney General policy requires, is not covered (Lyndhurst, 2017), and the police crash report itself is a report the law requires and declares not confidential (N.J.S.A. 39:4-131). Separately, an agency may deny access to records that pertain to an investigation in progress if release would be inimical to the public interest, but not to a record that was open to the public before the investigation began (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-3(a)); the Court held this requires the agency to show all three elements (Lyndhurst). Even during a criminal investigation, the agency must make certain facts available within 24 hours or as soon as practicable, including the type, time and location of a reported crime, the identity of investigating and arresting personnel and agency, and the circumstances of an arrest, unless release would jeopardize someone’s safety or an investigation in progress or is otherwise inappropriate, an exception the statute says is narrowly construed, in which case the official must issue a brief statement explaining why (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-3(b)). OPRA does not limit the common law right of access to records, including criminal investigatory records (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, 47:1A-8); under it, you must show an interest in the record and the court balances that interest against the State’s interest in confidentiality (Lyndhurst). We found no statute or official guidance saying when these exemptions end; the investigation-in-progress exemption by its terms applies while an investigation is in progress. For serious and fatal crashes the State Police investigated, the State Police say the investigation report, digital media, photographs and statements are not public records and require a subpoena or a judge’s order, and NJDOT’s crash report manual says fatal crash investigation reports are not usually released until the prosecutor’s office releases them at the end of the investigation.

Do traffic cameras in New Jersey record?

NJDOT records; kept 7 days only

NJDOT says its traffic cameras on interstates and other state highways record traffic conditions, delays, incidents and weather, are monitored around the clock at its Statewide Traffic Management Center, and that video is recorded and retained for seven (7) days. Requests go only through its online Traffic Camera Video Request Form, not by mail or fax, and by rule must be received within seven calendar days of the date of the video (N.J.A.C. 16:1A-4.6(a), (b)); give the route, the intersection, exit or milepost, the date and the time window. The form says cameras on top of traffic signals are not recorded, and that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway) does not record its traffic cameras. Fees under N.J.A.C. 16:1A-4.6(c): $100.00 per camera for the first three hours or less of video and $50.00 per camera for each additional three hours, by check or money order; you must pay within 30 days after NJDOT tells you the video is ready, or it will not be kept. Do not pay until the Video Request Unit contacts you. Note two conflicts: the request form lists “Additional Hours - $50.00/hr”, while the rule and NJDOT’s own video request FAQ say $50 for each additional three-hour period, and the form says to pay “State of New Jersey” where the rule says the “New Jersey Department of Transportation”; ask the Video Request Unit which applies. The form also says delivery or postage fees and extraordinary service fees may apply. City or county cameras are not covered by this process; ask that government’s records custodian in writing right away under OPRA. New Jersey also lets towns keep voluntary registries of private outdoor security cameras, but the registry is for police use only and is not a public record (N.J.S.A. 40:48-1.7).

Red-light and speed cameras

No red-light or speed cameras now

Red-light cameras: P.L.2007, c.348 (N.J.S.A. 39:4-8.12 to 39:4-8.18) created a five-year pilot program of traffic control signal monitoring systems. NJDOT says the pilot began capturing violations on December 16, 2009, and that as of December 16, 2014, the 73 camera intersections in 24 participating municipalities no longer had statutory authority to capture violations, so the program ended without action from the Legislature. The pilot’s sections remain in the compiled statutes, which say the act expires upon submission of the Commissioner’s fifth and final report (N.J.S.A. 39:4-8.18); NJDOT’s page said that report would be released in 2015, and we did not find it. Under the pilot statute, recorded images were not public records under OPRA or the common law, could be obtained only by a grand jury subpoena or a court order in a criminal matter, and had to be purged within 60 days after a fine was collected, or within three days if no summons issued within 90 days (N.J.S.A. 39:4-8.15(a)). The 2024 law creating the Target Zero Commission (P.L.2024, c.109) bars its action plan, strategies and recommendations from including red-light camera enforcement (N.J.S.A. 27:5F-45(b)). Speed cameras: no law enforcement officer or agency may use photo radar to enforce Chapter 4 of Title 39 (N.J.S.A. 39:4-103.1). School bus stop-arm cameras: we found no New Jersey statute authorizing camera enforcement of the school bus stopping law in the current compiled statutes. So for a New Jersey crash, there is no red-light or speed camera image to request; look instead to NJDOT, police and private cameras.

If your request is denied

GRC or Superior Court within 45 days

If a custodian denies your request, or does not answer within the deadline (a deemed denial), you may, within 45 days of the denial, either file a complaint with the Government Records Council (GRC) or file an action in Superior Court, where a judge designated for records cases hears it in a summary or expedited manner (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6). Only a requestor accurately identified by name may do so, and anonymous requestors may not (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f), 47:1A-6). The agency has the burden of proving the denial is authorized by law. The GRC charges no fee (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-7(f)), offers mediation once a complaint is filed, and investigates if either side declines or mediation fails (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-7(d), (e)); the statute directs it to decide complaints within 90 days, extendable 45 days for good cause and excluding mediation time, beginning 18 months after the 2024 amendments took effect. Its complaint must be on the GRC’s Denial of Access Complaint form, filed within 45 calendar days, and the GRC cannot hear a complaint already pending or decided in Superior Court or a request made under the common law rather than OPRA, according to its Citizen’s Guide (October 2024). A GRC decision may be appealed to the Appellate Division within 45 days (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-7(e)), and the GRC’s guide notes a request for reconsideration within 10 business days. A prevailing requestor may be awarded a reasonable attorney’s fee, and must be if the agency unreasonably denied access, acted in bad faith or knowingly and willfully violated OPRA; if the agency produces the records within seven business days after your Superior Court action or GRC complaint is served, the case is dismissed without prejudice, and you may still be awarded a fee if the custodian knew or should have known the denial violated OPRA (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6). A custodian found to have knowingly and willfully violated OPRA and unreasonably denied access exposes the agency to civil penalties of $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 for first, second and third violations within 10 years (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-11). A common law claim goes to Superior Court. GRC: 866-850-0511 (toll free), Government.Records@dca.nj.gov, PO Box 819, Trenton, NJ 08625-0819. You may want to ask a lawyer before filing in Superior Court.

What to do now

1. 1

   Request NJDOT camera video today

   NJDOT keeps highway camera video for seven days and accepts requests only on its online Traffic Camera Video Request Form. Do not pay until its Video Request Unit contacts you with the cost.

2. 2

   Send the police an OPRA request for body camera and dashcam video

   Write to the department’s records custodian with the date, time, location and case number. Say you are a subject of the recording, ask to review it under N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(k), and ask that it be kept three years.

3. 3

   Ask well before 180 days pass

   Body camera recordings only have to be kept 180 days unless a longer period applies. A request from a subject of the recording makes the minimum three years; put it in writing so you can prove you asked.

4. 4

   Look for private footage now

   NJDOT says the Turnpike Authority’s cameras do not record, and New Jersey has no red-light or speed cameras. Post the crash on the bounty board: nearby dashcams and business cameras often hold the only footage.

Frequently asked questions