Fired Aberdeen Police Officer Named In NJ's 'Major Discipline' Report

ABERDEEN, NJ — This week, the New Jersey Attorney General made public this list of all the police officers in the state who were subject to "major discipline" in 2022.

You can read the entire list here; it was released Wednesday.

One Aberdeen Township police officer was named in the report. Patrolman Santiago Philip was fired from the Aberdeen Police force last year after he admitted to damaging vials of his own urine samples so they would be rejected by the state lab that determines illegal drug use. In that case, Officer Santiago pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal charges, fourth-degree evidence tampering. He was fired by the town shortly thereafter.

Other police in nearby towns, such as Perth Amboy (a police officer suspended for using the computer database for her own personal reasons) and Keansburg (Officer Nicholas Thompson, who admitted to sexually assaulting a woman), were also named in the report.

No officer from Matawan PD was named.

“Major discipline” is internal discipline within the police department defined as terminations (being fired from the police force), reductions in rank, or suspension of more than five days.

It was a controversial decision to release the Major Discipline report:

When Gov. Murphy's administration first decided to make the list public in 2021, a half dozen police unions sued him and his Attorney General. The case went all the way to the NJ Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled with Murphy that the report could be released.

For comparison, the state of New Jersey does not publish such a list of public schoolteachers who are disciplined on the job, or of all the state workers who have been demoted, suspended or fired.

The decision to make the Major Discipline file public is part of Gov. Murphy's goal of making police in New Jersey more transparent and accountable, in the wake of public protest about fatal police shootings and the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Patrick Colligan, president of the state Policemen’s Benevolent Association, New Jersey’s largest police union, told NJ.com at the time the Supreme Court's decision was “frustrating and disappointing," and that releasing the report will only humiliate officers, some of who committed very minor infractions while on the job.

“The NJSPBA does not and will not protect bad officers who violate the public trust and, yet, the 99.9% of good men and women serving in law enforcement continue to find themselves under attack,” Colligan said at the time.

The Aberdeen officer:

Aberdeen Twp PD
Patrolman Santiago Philip
Terminated: Yes
Demoted: No
Suspended: No
# of Days Suspended:
Sustained Charge: Tampering with Physical Evidence

Description: Patrolman Philip Santiago entered a plea of Guilty to two counts of Tampering with Physical Evidence, fourth degree, in violation of 2C:28-6 . During a drug test, the officer tampered with vials of his own urine by damaging the vials so that they would not be accepted by the NJ State Toxicology Laboratory for testing to determine illegal drug use. By his guilty plea, Patrolman Santiago forfeited his public employment.