Discipline for police misconduct on the rise in New Jersey, data shows

Nearly 550 police officers in New Jersey received major discipline last year for misconduct that ranged from bumbling to brutal, according to new data the state Attorney General’s Office released Monday.

The 543 officers fired, demoted, or suspended for more than five days in 2024 hailed from 172 law enforcement agencies around the state. Some were punished for more than one infraction, with 644 total major discipline actions logged last year.

This latest annual report on major discipline comes five years after the Attorney General’s Office first ordered agencies to disclose such discipline in an effort to increase transparency and build trust between police and the communities they serve.

Since then, the number of officers disciplined has steadily risen, jumping 40% between 2021 — the first full year of reporting, when 389 officers were disciplined — and last year.

That jump is at least partially due to Attorney General Matt Platkin in November 2022 expanding the list of major discipline infractions to include domestic violence, excessive force, intentional destruction or mishandling of evidence, lying, discriminatory conduct, and intentionally performing an improper search, among others. The expanded reporting also now captures officers charged with indictable crimes and those who left an agency amid ongoing investigations. Those changes took effect on Jan. 1, 2023, though, and discipline still rose 18% from 2023 to last year, the data shows.

Platkin said most of New Jersey’s 42,000 law enforcement officers serve their communities honorably and valiantly despite the dangers and frustrations of the job. About 370 of nearly 550 agencies reported no major discipline.

“Publicly releasing this data about the handling of disciplinary matters helps maintain the public’s trust in those dedicated, hardworking men and women of law enforcement,” Platkin said in a statement.

Misconduct that resulted in major discipline in 2024 was horrifying in some cases, humdrum in others.

The most common offense stemmed from attendance infractions, with dozens of officers disciplined for chronic lateness or sick callouts.

But dozens more officers were disciplined for actual crimes. The report documents officers accused of drunk driving, domestic violence, insurance fraud, theft, possessing child pornography, assault, harassment, theft, child endangerment, and engaging in prostitution. Some were terminated or left their jobs voluntarily, but others continue working as officers after getting suspensions of varying lengths.

Multiple officers were disciplined for negligent handling of their firearms, with some leaving loaded guns in sensitive places and others reporting them stolen after leaving them in their cars. In Voorhees, Officer Steven Kushner was suspended for 20 days after he propped his fully loaded patrol rifle against his car, then drove away, leaving the firearm in the street. Nicholas Procaccini, an Atlantic County correctional officer, left his duty belt with a firearm and loaded magazines in the restroom at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Pomona, where he was guarding an incarcerated person getting treatment. Correctional Officer Daniqua Lewter reported her firearm stolen from her cousin’s house — but later admitted she gave it to her cousin, who wasn’t licensed.

Some officers were punished for using excessive force or violating pursuit policies. Andrew Eckert was terminated from the Pleasantville police force for breaking the wrist of a handcuffed person who was already face-down on the ground, tossing him into the air and into a fence, according to the report. Ignacio Hernandez Jr., an officer in Sea Isle City, was disciplined for using a ride-share service to help him in a foot pursuit.

Many officers were disciplined for workplace offenses, such as having sex on duty, harassing colleagues, failing drug tests, and searching police databases for personal reasons. One officer resigned from the Tenafly police department after investigators discovered she crashed her police car, picked up the debris, and staged a collision elsewhere — then lied to supervisors that she’d collided with a deer.

An officer who taught for the controversial police training company Street Cop was among those disciplined. Brad Gilmore was a sergeant at the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office when he got suspended for 90 days and demoted to investigator/detective for violating police policies on outside employment, insubordination, and related offenses.

Correctional officers racked up the most disciplinary infractions, with discipline meted out to about 250 officers who work for the state or county corrections departments. Some failed to do required headcounts, slept or watched movies while on duty, or otherwise shirked responsibilities, while others smuggled contraband to incarcerated people or had inappropriate relationships with them. Two, Edgardo Mendez and Justin Paneto in Camden County, landed 60-day suspensions for failing to lock away bleach, which an incarcerated person found and drank. Several officers were disciplined for lax oversight in which at least two people died in their cells and weren’t discovered for hours.

“We have a very large department and that represents a very small fraction of our members,” said William Sullivan, who heads the union that represents state correctional officers.

The data shows that plenty of officers resigned or retired before supervisors could impose punishment.

It also shows wide disparities in how officers were disciplined.

In Hudson County, Guttenberg Police Officer John Lopez was terminated for faking a doctor’s note and prescription form to bolster his request to be excused from shaving due to skin irritation, while William Underwood, a rookie officer in Byram Township, got fired for “inappropriate” Facebook posts about race relations.

Yet in Jersey City, Officers Shahzad Hashmi and Fernando Procel got 120-day suspensions for failing to help a rape victim get a restraining order and medical care and alert a sexual assault response team, thereby preventing the collection of evidence. And in Newark, Officer David Paige got a 10-day suspension after he slammed a student against a wall and ground “in an unprovoked incident” and then arrested and charged the student for aggravated assault.

Platkin also released data Monday on all reported internal affairs cases statewide. Those figures show that internal affairs detectives opened more than 15,000 investigations involving about 8,800 unique officers statewide in 2024. A third of all closed investigations resulted in a sustained finding, with officers most often punished by oral or written reprimands.

Sophie Nieto-Muñoz contributed.