3 Union County Officers Suspended In 2020

UNION COUNTY, NJ — On Tuesday, for the first time ever, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office publicly released all the names of New Jersey police officers who were subject to major discipline between June 15, 2020 and December 31, 2020.

"Major discipline" is defined as police officers who were terminated, demoted, or suspended for more than five days.

In Union County, three officers were on that list, according to the report.

• Roselle officer Anthony Obery was suspended for 45 days in 2020 for "insubordination, neglect of duty, and violations of the Roselle Police Department policies regarding outside employment and sick leave. He was working another job while utilizing sick leave."
• Union County Officer Sgt. Homero Almanzar was suspended for 8 days in 2020 for "BWC Policy Violation," read the report.
• Union Township officer Danny Santos was suspended for 60 days in 2020 for "for conduct unbecoming a public employee and neglect of duty. Officer Santos failed to deploy his body worn camera while working a traffic detail as required. He was subsequently involved in a use of force."

This is the first time information like this has been made public. It was released in accordance with the Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive 2021-6, which former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal made two months ago, in light of this summer's New Jersey Supreme Court decision authorizing the public release of certain police disciplinary information.

The names of any police officer in New Jersey who received "major discipline" will now be made public in a yearly report. This includes county sheriff's officers, New Jersey State Police and correctional officers.

The law change is meant to be more transparent with the public, to let the public know how their tax dollars are being spent and also to improve police-community relations.

"We are releasing this information not to shame or embarrass individual officers, but to provide the same type of transparency and accountability in policing that New Jersey mandates in other essential professions," said Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck on Tuesday. "The vast majority of New Jersey's law enforcement officers serve the public with honor and integrity, doing the right thing day-in and day-out for the communities they serve, so I take no joy in putting this information out. But we are doing this because it is an important and necessary step to build greater public trust while promoting professionalism in law enforcement."

You can find the entire 2020 disciplinary report here: njoag.gov/majordiscipline.

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