My baby sister recently got into a car accident. Though it’s always scary, thankfully it was minor and nobody was hurt. But that’s just the beginning of the story. When writing up the report, the police failed to redact, or black out, my sister’s driver’s license number, name, and address. They then handed this information to the other driver, a perfect stranger.

This stranger now had my young sister’s home address, and he used it -- he showed up at her house and harassed my sister and mom for payment for his damages. They were terrified. They couldn’t understand why, or how, he was standing on their front steps. My mom called the police, who warned the man that if he came around the house again, he would be arrested. But what do the police expect, when they are the ones who handed him my sister’s personal information in the first place?

There is no reason for parties involved in an accident to receive each other’s personal information. This is a matter of safety. We need to change New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) to require law enforcement to black out personal information on Moving Vehicle Accident reports.  Please sign my petition calling on NJ authorities to change this law fast, so nobody else has to experience the fear that my sister and mom are experiencing now.

When my mom called the police, this man yelled at her and called her horrible names. After the police left, he waited down the street for a long while, intimidating my single mother and sister and making them feel seriously unsafe in their own neighborhood. Now they are stuck.They can’t move, so they just have to live with the knowledge that he could come back any time and continue his threats, or worse. This is unacceptable.

I am proud to work for a New Jersey police agency as a dispatcher. I have always made sure to exclude names, addresses, and other personal information from my reports, but I guess not all law enforcement does the same. There are other ways for lawyers and insurance companies to gather the information they need in a more responsible manner. New Jersey needs to do better, for the safety of its citizens.

Please join me in calling on New Jersey lawmakers to update OPRA and ensure that personal information is entirely redacted from Moving Vehicle Accident reports.