The Rest of The Story: Atlantic City Mayor & Police Body Cam Video

On the same day (yesterday) of our coverage about an Atlantic City, New Jersey Board of Education Member waiting 2 months for City Hall to answer his OPRA request about Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small … Ron Bailey received some of the information that he has long requested.

Bailey wrote me yesterday at 3:01 p.m., that:

Just wanted to update you, miraculously the clerk's office produced the supplementary police report and dispatch call logs of that incident that you reported on this morning they are still examining the video footage before they release that to me, wrote Bailey.

By any reasonable standard, it shouldn’t take 2 months to review video of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small taken from Atlantic City Police body cameras.

In fairness to the Atlantic City Police Department, they promptly turned over all of the police body camera footage to the Small Administration within 8 days of Bailey’s public request.

I reached out to James Sarkos, Atlantic City Chief of Police to confirm what we had learned:

Chief Sarkos told me that, “We promptly complied with the OPRA request for the body camera video. We turned it over to the City Administration within 8 days of the public request and It is presently undergoing attorney review with the City Solicitor," said Sarkos.

This undisputed fact was blurred by the 4 emails sent by the Atlantic City Clerk’s Office to Bailey over the past 2 months.

The 4 emails that Bailey has received, each asking for a delay in providing him the information that he requested through the Open Public Records Act … the City Clerk responses made it appear that they were waiting for the information from the Atlantic City Police Department … when in fact, the Small Administration has had the video, etc. in their possession the whole time.

The City Clerk’s Office wrote emails that misrepresent the honorable and prompt action that was taken by the Atlantic City Police Department.

Here are the 4 emails that have been received by Bailey.

The issue involves a police incident at a home in Atlantic City, whereby Marty Small thought that his Daughter was present and allegedly in distress.

It is important to emphasize that the Atlantic City Police Department provided their body camera video within 8 days of Ron Bailey’s OPRA request.

For inexplicable reasons, the City Clerk’s Office wrote repeated emails asking for a delay in producing the requested information by stating that they were waiting for the Atlantic City Police to respond.

That was not true. The Atlantic City Police Department was both honorable and prompt in providing the requested information.

Finally, regarding the police incident response … they were simply doing their job at the direct request of Marty Small, who reported to them that his Daughter was present and in distress at a residence in Atlantic City.

Below, are Steve Young photos of the police incident that was directed by Marty Small, who asked them to respond.