the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, NJ Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal ordered all law enforcement agencies in New Jersey to begin publicly identifying officers who commit serious disciplinary violations. Under the order, going forward every state, county, and local law enforcement agency in New Jersey will be required to annually publish a list of officers who were fired, demoted, or suspended for more than five days due to a disciplinary violation, with the first list to be published no later than December 31, 2020.
Until now, the identities of officers subject to discipline have generally not been disclosed to the public unless they have faced criminal charges.
Today’s Directive also permits law enforcement agencies to go further and identify officers who have committed serious disciplinary violations in the past. For instance, Attorney General Grewal, in conjunction with Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police (NJSP), announced that NJSP will publish a list of all State Troopers who have committed major disciplinary violations over the past twenty years. The historical list will be released publicly no later than July 15, 2020.
“For decades, New Jersey has not disclosed the identities of law enforcement officers who commit serious disciplinary violations,” said Attorney General Grewal. “Today, we end the practice of protecting the few to the detriment of the many. Today, we recommit ourselves to building a culture of transparency and accountability in law enforcement.”
“We cannot build trust with the public unless we’re candid about the shortcomings of our own officers,” said Colonel Callahan. “By releasing the names of State Troopers who committed serious disciplinary violations, we are continuing the long, hard work of earning and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve.”
State PBA President Patrick Colligan commented on the AG On “Major Discipline” Directive, “The State PBA has for decades fought to make New Jersey’s law enforcement officers the most professional and best trained in the nation. While we too are angered when police officers abuse their power, we also believe that everyone deserves to be treated equally under the law. Police officers especially. Unfortunately, the Attorney General’s “Major Discipline” Directive does not treat every officer equally.
“While the term “major discipline” sounds like an officer has severely violated the public trust, in reality police officer discipline wildly differs from town to town. Major discipline in some places could be handed down for a uniform violation. The Attorney General’s Directive is far too broad and it treats all officers unequally. While we have pledged to work with the Attorney General on enhancing our profession this new policy does not recognize those arbitrary differences. The Policy is going to smear officers unfairly who have not violated the public trust and I would respectfully suggest it needs to go back to the drawing board.
“I have directed Legal Counsel for the State PBA to review the policy to ensure that officer rights are protected.”
If it’s for a uniform violation the public can figure that out.
You lose all credibility with that statement.
the simple solution is to eliminate qualified immunity for cops. If cops have to pay for their own insurance for bad deeds then that will curtail the problem of bad cops..
Yes there are cops who commit bad deeds, but there are many who are accused of committing bad deeds and it’s entirely fabricated. It’s done as a form of defense leverage, where criminals know all too well the power of making an allegation of misconduct during an arrest. It does go on and if can successfully be used to have the arrest charges dropped or reduced. So should individual cops have to personal finance these kinds of matters defending themselves?
Let’s not get caught up in this latest emotional steam roller of cops-are-bad.
Who cares what the PBA says? Their goal is to make Police less accountable and more expensive. They are a lot of the problem.
And the douchbaggery continues with a directive from who else?
Another organized labor slob.
Here’s a little wake up call there Patrick…PARTIES OVER
“the simple solution is to eliminate qualified immunity for cops” How about getting rid qualified immunity for prosecutors who withhold Exculpatory evidence and judges who let criminals out of jail to early so they can do it again. Now that will fix a lot of problems.
Shame on you PBA. Blue wall of silence crap continues and we aren’t safer as a result.