Analysis: Better police oversight needed in NJ

Written by

Bob Makin

Staff Writer

Asbury Park Press

The Civil Rights Protection Project of the New Brunswick–based Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey has been critical of the state Attorney General’s Office, most county prosecutors and several police chiefs in regard to police oversight, training and equipping.

Yet outgoing Attorney General Paula T. Dow has put more safeguards in place than her predecessors, including strict guidelines regarding use of force, said Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office.

Specific directives dictate how any use of deadly force, a firearm or any serious injury must be investigated and reported, Aseltine said. Any contested use of deadly force must be presented to a grand jury, he said. That will be the case in the fatal Sept. 22 police shooting of New Brunswick resident Barry Deloatch, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan recently announced, and in a fatal Dec. 10 police shooting in Garfield, authorities said.

“There is a system in place that makes sure that things come to our attention or to the attention of the county prosecutors where there are problems,” Aseltine said. “We’re not saying that no problems develop at times in particular municipalities, but we have a system in place to identify those problems, support the counties in their initial oversight of municipal police departments, and support the police chiefs.

“The system is functioning. It’s not going to prevent every instance of an officer acting inappropriately, but it makes sure the spotlight is on problem areas. The right kinds of safeguards are in place.”

Most county prosecutors, however, don’t analyze specific use-of-force incident reports, said Richard Rivera, chairman of the Civil Rights Protection Project. Nor does the Attorney General’s Office, Rivera added.

“The problem in New Jersey is that the appointment of attorney general has become a biannual event on some unofficial calendar in Trenton,” Rivera said. “This lack of consistent leadership shifts priorities on a continual basis. Just as the office’s inner circle makes strides in their new positions, it’s time to pack the office and move down the hall.”

Dow soon will be replaced by Jeff Chiesa, chief counsel to Gov. Chris Christie and former executive assistant U.S. attorney under Christie. Chiesa was confirmed on Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Civil Rights Protection Project received a $100,000 grant in May from the Soros Foundation to revise neglected police internal affairs policy and procedures throughout the state through research, training and outreach. During the past two years, Rivera has trained nearly 100 internal affairs officers and police chiefs while providing research and outreach to communities that claim they no longer trust their police departments.

Rivera said he looks forward to working with the new attorney general in “addressing the gap in police accountability that stems directly from the Office of Attorney General.”

“It’s the state’s third attorney general in three years, which is why any progress is painfully slow,” he said.

Aseltine disagreed that progress on internal affairs has been slow.

He reiterated that the attorney general’s internal affairs policy recently was updated and strengthened with extensive input from law enforcement leaders.

“This area has been a priority for the Attorney General’s Office and will remain a priority under its new leadership,” Aseltine said. “The enhanced attorney general’s policy establishes clear standards to ensure that police departments handle complaints in an appropriate manner and that there is accountability. The Attorney General’s Office cannot, as a practical matter, directly oversee the handling of internal affairs cases by all of the hundreds of municipal police departments. The county prosecutors must be the primary source of oversight. The requirements in the enhanced internal affairs policy provide for meaningful oversight by police chiefs and county prosecutors.”

'Sleeping' chiefs

The best way to ensure effective monitoring and accountability is to properly train police supervisors, said South Brunswick Police Chief Ray Hayducka, vice president of the State Association of Police Chiefs and past president of its Middlesex County counterpart.

County prosecutors frequently pay for such training, Hayducka said.

“I believe that police officers should be held accountable, and that is certainly a deterrent for misconduct,” Hayducka said. “I can attest to my agency and other agencies, where the supervisors are held accountable for keeping their people accountable. The best way to hold them accountable is to have supervisors accountable and to have proper training for supervisors.”

Rivera said he believes that many of the state’s police chiefs are “asleep” in regard to effective monitoring and accountability. An example, he said, is the alleged mishandling of 81 internal affairs cases in New Brunswick from 2003 to 2007. The situation wasn’t discovered until March 2008, and Sgt. Richard Rowe, the department’s internal affairs supervisor, wasn’t suspended until March 2011, Rivera said. Rowe subsequently resigned on Aug. 4 and was charged on Oct. 11 with tampering with public records or information and obstructing the administration of law or other governmental function.

Several municipalities have the same issue of mishandling internal affairs complaints, Rivera said, mainly by filing them inaccurately and not bothering to follow up to correct them.

“The summary reports act as a chief’s early warning on patterns of complaints,” Rivera said. “Inaccurate reports indicate the chief is probably sleeping behind the wheel when it comes to patterns of misconduct.

“Other states have done away with use-of-force reporting because technically their use of force should be in response to a given circumstance,” he added. “So other agencies have converted their reporting and mindset to response to force, or response-to-resistance reporting and training.”

Shifting priorities

Rivera said some police departments see lawsuits as a cost of doing business. The insurance company is paying out and the settlement doesn’t come from the police department budget, he said.

Over the past few years, that strategy has cost the city of Newark $3 million in settlements, plus an American Civil Liberties Union investigation and letter of petition to the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the ACLU.

Civil rights activists are drafting a similar letter of petition requesting an investigation into the New Brunswick Police Department. The letter has been signed by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Cornel West, an internationally renowned African-American studies professor at Princeton University.

Rivera said he has spoken to the Department of Justice and the FBI about police policies and procedures in New Brunswick.

“We perceive a pattern and practice of civil rights abuses,” he said.

Hayducka defended the New Brunswick Police Department and its director, Anthony Caputo.

“I look at New Brunswick, and I think it’s a very good police department,” Hayducka said. “There is not one police department in the United States that can’t improve. We’re always looking at ways to better things. Nobody’s perfect. But the New Brunswick Police Department is a great department, and it has great leadership.”

In the wake of the alleged internal affairs mishandling, the New Brunswick Police Department set up reforms internally, as well as with a city liaison to the public and with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. Exactly a week after Rowe was charged on Oct. 11, the Prosecutor’s Office also began a review process of all excessive-force complaints in all Middlesex County police departments.

Rivera commended the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office for its outreach efforts and transparency in police accountability matters. Prosecutors in Essex, Salem, Morris and Mercer counties also have reached out to community organizations, such as the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the ACLU for input, guidance and reform, Rivera said.

Morris County recently spent $1 million on an online system to monitor police activity and accountability, Rivera said. Salem County already has one up and running, he added.

“Although the successes in those five counties are great accomplishments with credit to the participants, it would be much easier if the attorney general took a more active role because that single source of authority oversees all 21 prosecutors and 500 police agencies,” Rivera said. “The attorney general can direct police agencies concisely and cohesively with the stroke of a pen to achieve greater good instead of debating the benefits of any policy for the next decade before any action is taken.”