140 N.J. Eq. 341 | N.J. Ct. of Ch. | 1947
The complainants Jenkins et al., O'Brien et al., Anzer et al., had been indicted by Hudson County grand juries on charges of misdemeanor. They filed separate bills of complaint in this court wherein William J. McGovern, Sheriff of Hudson County, was named as sole defendant, seeking to restrain said sheriff from taking and disseminating their fingerprints and photographs pursuant toR.S. 53:1-15 et seq., in advance of their conviction on the charges for which they were indicted. In each case an order to show cause issued with ad interim restraint and on the return of those orders application was made on behalf of Walter D. Van Riper, Attorney-General and Acting Prosecutor of the Pleas for Hudson County, and Charles H. Schoeffel, Superintendent of State Police, to admit them as parties defendant in each cause. On a hearing on said application in the Jenkins case the application was denied (Jenkins v. McGovern, 136 *343 N.J. Eq. 563), but on appeal the denial was reversed (VanRiper v. Jenkins,
The complainant McGovern was indicted for failure, as said sheriff, to comply with said statute and he filed his bill in this court against the Attorney-General and the Superintendent of State Police to enjoin them from taking his fingerprints or photographs and from forwarding them to the Superintendent of State Police or elsewhere unless and until he stands convicted on the indictment against him. An order to show cause with adinterim stay issued and on the return of that order it was determined by this court (McGovern v. Van Riper,
Pending the determination of the Court of Errors and Appeals in the McGovern Case, that case and the cases of the other complainants lay dormant and all of them have now been brought on for final hearing on the pleadings and proofs taken in open court, it being stipulated by counsel for all parties that the cases be heard together. More than two years have elapsed since the complainants were indicted and up to the final hearing herein none of them had been brought to trial because of certiorari proceedings instituted on each indictment.
The statute P.L. 1930 p. 279 (now R.S. 53:1-15 et seq.) provides that sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies shall immediately upon the arrest of any person for an indictable offense take the fingerprints of such person and forward without delay two copies or more, together with photographs and other descriptions with a history of the offense allegedly committed, to the State Bureau of Identification (a department of the State Police); that the Bureau shall co-operate with the bureaus of other states and with the bureau in the Department of Justice of the United States and carry on an interstate, national and international system of identification within the requirements of the State Bureau of Identification.
The question now for determination is whether such dissemination as the statute authorizes of fingerprints and photographs lawfully taken is an unwarranted invasion of the right of privacy of an individual to be free from intrusion into his private life, which right the complainants claim is protected by article 1, paragraphs 1 and 6 of our State Constitution.
The proofs taken at the hearing show that had fingerprints and photographs been taken of the complainants immediately following their indictment, they would be forwarded to the State Bureau of Identification and there kept under lock and key and not subject to public view; that a copy of each fingerprint would be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Washington but not a copy of the photograph unless two copies thereof were received by the State Bureau; that the State Bureau classifies photographs by groups and inspection thereof is confined to and permitted only in the particular crime group and description of the person whom it is desired *345 to identify as a person connected with a crime and then only by one who is accompanied by a member of a police department; that the State Bureau complies with requests received from other police organizations within or without the state for copies of fingerprints only when such requests are accompanied by a satisfactory specific reason.
In McGovern v. Van Riper,
It was said by Blackstone that "Every man when he enters into society, gives up part of his natural liberty as the price of so valuable a boon and obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish, otherwise there would be no security to individuals in any of the enjoyments of life." (Blackstone Commentaries (9th ed.)125-6); and our Court of Errors and Appeals has said, "Changing conditions necessarily impose a greater demand upon that reserve element of sovereignty called the police power, for such reasonable supervision and regulation as may be essential for the common welfare. Acceptance of restrictions upon the so-called natural rights of every individual, necessary to insure observance by the individual citizen of the duty to use his property and exercise his rights and privileges with due regard to the personal and property rights and privileges of others, is the first and most imperative obligation entering into what we call the social compact. Without it there can be no such thing as organized society or civilized government." Pine v. Okzewski,
The intent of the statute in question is the protection of society generally by providing a method of aiding police authorities charged with the duty of preventing crime, in apprehending criminals and gathering evidence for presentation to the court when they are brought to trial, especially in the case of second offenders. In the case of Bartletta v. McFeeley,
In the second case of Bartletta v. McFeeley,
In the case of Fernicola v. Keenan,
I think the two Bartletta Cases and the Fernicola Case, when read in connection with McGovern v. Van Riper,
I am authorized to state that the Chancellor concurs in the conclusions herein reached. *348