About the Office of Information Privacy

Daniel’s Law was enacted as the State of New Jersey’s response to the death of Daniel Anderl, who lost his life protecting his parents from a gunman who had come to his home intent on killing his mother, Judge Esther Salas. The gunman had found the judge’s home address on the Internet and had surveilled the house for several days before entering it on July 13, 2020, shooting the judge’s husband and killing her son. The availability of the family’s residence information through an Internet search enabled the shooter to easily find them, seriously wound Mr. Anderl and take Daniel’s life. In response to this tragedy, the New Jersey Legislature took steps to make it more difficult for the public to find such personal information on government websites with the passage of Daniel’s Law.

On July 13, 2022, the Office of Information Privacy (“OIP”) opened a portal for Covered Persons to register for data protections under Daniel’s Law.  Since that time, nearly 9,000 Covered Persons – active, formerly active, or retired judicial officers, law enforcement officers and prosecutors as Daniel’s Law defines them – have taken advantage of this new statute, entrusting the OIP with their residential and household member information. The OIP securely shares this information with a network of trusted redactors who are tasked with removing that information from state, county, and municipal government websites. By January 2023, nearly 1,800 redactors had registered with the OIP to carry out this task. As of August 1, 2024, child protective investigators also will be eligible to register with the OIP and request redaction protections.

The work of the OIP is directed at increasing personal data protections for public servants who put their lives on the line each day as they carry out the State’s business and serve its citizens.  This work is inspired by the memory of Daniel Anderl and the efforts his parents have made to see that New Jersey and other states enact such laws.