The Supreme Court held today, in Gilleran v. Tp. of Bloomfield, that there is no right of access under OPRA to video footage from building security surveillance cameras. As I predicted when the Court granted review of this case a year ago, the Court ruled that OPRA’s security provisions completely exempt these videos from disclosure.

This was the first time that the Supreme Court has had to interpret OPRA’s exemptions for records that involve security information and measures and surveillance techniques. The Court construed these provisions as precluding the release of security system footage in the interest of protecting public safety.

Justice LaVecchia, writing for the majority, explained that requiring disclosure of such footage “would reveal information about a public facility’s security system and its vulnerabilities.” Such a requirement would be contrary to OPRA’s legislative intent, as well as common sense, as “[c]urrent events since the new millenium make evident the present day difficulties of maintaining daily security for public buildings….”

The Gilleran opinion has many ramifications for a number of OPRA issues, which I’ll explore in subsequent posts.