80 NJ Police Departments Fail To Follow Citizen Complaint Law: Report

NEW JERSEY — If a citizen has a complaint about a New Jersey law enforcement officer or official's conduct, they are supposed to have an easy way to make that complaint online.

But a majority of New Jersey police departments fail to meet requirements and best practices to allow the public to file internal affairs investigations online, a new report from the state comptroller’s office shows. And this could stonewall citizens who want to report officer misconduct, state officials say.

The Office of the State Comptroller surveyed the websites of 100 randomly-selected municipal police departments in New Jersey as part of their Police Accountability Project. The survey found that 80 of the departments were not in compliance with public reporting mandates from the Attorney General, and only five fully met all the requirements.

The Office of the Attorney General launched a Policing Initiative in 2019 under former AG Gurbir S. Grewal which revised existing policies and procedures for internal affairs investigations. This included standardizing the internal affairs report form that law enforcement agencies across the state must use, and making the form available in 11 languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, Haitian, Hindi, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese).

Of the 100 departments that the Office of the State Comptroller surveyed, 80 did not meet the Attorney General’s requirements to provide the standardized report form in all of the required languages according to the state comptroller's report, released Wednesday. And, 60 departments either had no report form available online, or did not use the mandatory standardized form.

“The law requires police departments to make it easy to report police misconduct, not put up barriers,” said Kevin Walsh, Acting State Comptroller. “The website is, in effect, the front door. The public needs to be assured that the door is open to them if they want to file a complaint.”

Only 18 departments made an information sheet available in all 11 languages, the report said.

“This lack of compliance has the potential to undermine at least one of the overarching goals of the Attorney General’s Policing Initiative — building and maintaining public trust in police — and may impede the efficacy of the internal police disciplinary process overall,” the report said.

The comptroller’s office said 31 of the 100 police departments “did not have any report form available online.” And of the 69 departments that had a report form available, only 40 of them used the required internal affairs report form. The other 29 used “problematic or outdated” report forms.

Additionally, 32 of these departments required a sworn statement and/or had improper warnings about the legal consequences of false reporting, ”directly contradicting the Attorney General’s policy explicitly prohibiting both.”

This included eight departments which require citizens to swear or certify the information they provide on any report form. “This practice is noncompliant with the IAPP (Internal Affairs Policies and Procedures) and very concerning,” the comptroller’s report said.

Those eight departments are Bridgewater Township, Collingswood Borough, Egg Harbor Township, Galloway Township, Lawrence Township, Somerdale Borough, West Orange Township, and Westville Borough.

The five departments in full compliance with all mandates and best practices were Hoboken, Neptune City, Oceanport, Monroe Township (Gloucester Co.), and Spring Lake Borough, said the Office of the State Comptroller.

The comptroller's office added that 15 departments were in partial compliance with key requirements and best practices, leaving 80 who did not meet requirements.

“Given that most police departments we surveyed were non-compliant, we urge every police department in New Jersey to proactively assess their compliance with the IAPP,” said Walsh.

Here is a list of the 100 police departments which were surveyed in this report:

• Atlantic City
• Bay Head Borough
• Bedminster Township
• Berkeley Heights Township
• Berkeley Township
• Bloomfield Township
• Bloomingdale Borough
• Boonton Town
• Bridgewater Township
• Burlington City
• Cherry Hill Township
• Cliffside Park Borough
• Collingswood Borough
• Cranford Township
• Deal Borough
• Denville Township
• Dover Town
• East Brunswick Township
• East Rutherford Borough
• Edgewater Borough
• Egg Harbor Township
• Elizabeth City
• Elk Township
• Elmwood Park Borough
• Englewood Cliffs Borough
• Fair Haven Borough
• Franklin Township (Hunterdon County)
• Galloway Township
• Garfield City
• Gibbsboro Borough
• Gloucester City
• Greenwich Township
• Hackensack City
• Hackettstown Town
• Haledon Borough
• HamiltonTownship(Atlantic County)
• Hardyston Township
• Harrison Town
• Haworth Borough
• Hazlet Township
• Hillsdale Borough
• Hoboken City
• HowellTownship
• Independence Township
• Lawrence Township
• Lindenwold Borough
• Little Silver Borough
• Long Hill Township
• Margate City
• Medford Township
• Mendham Borough
• Middlesex Borough
• Millville City
• Monroe Township (Gloucester County)
• Monroe Township (Middlesex County)
• Montclair Township
• Montville Township
• Moorestown Township
• Morris Township
• Mount Holly Township
• Neptune City
• Newton Town
• North Caldwell Borough
• Oaklyn Borough
• Oceanport Borough
• Orange City
• Palmyra Borough
• Pemberton Borough
• Penns Grove Borough
• Perth Amboy City
• Pompton Lakes Borough
• Rahway City
• Ramsey Borough
• River Vale Township
• Rochelle Park Township
• Rockaway Borough
• Rockaway Township
• Roseland Borough
• Salem City
• Sea Isle City
• Somerdale Borough
• South Amboy City
• Spotswood Borough
• Spring Lake Borough
• Stone Harbor Borough
• Stratford Borough
• Summit City
• Toms River Township
• Tuckerton Borough
• Upper Saddle River Borough
• Vineland City
• Waldwick Borough
• Warren Township
• West Orange Township
• Westampton Township
• Westville Borough
• Woodbridge Township
• Woodbury Heights Borough
• Woodlynne Borough
• Wyckoff Township