Newark Police Seeing Less Citizen Complaints, 1 Year After Civil Rights Settlement

NEWARK, NJ — The Newark Police Department may be starting to win back some of its confidence from citizens following last year’s landmark civil rights settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, according to city officials.

On Thursday - more than a year after federal authorities and the City of Newark reached a settlement with the Newark Police Department over alleged longstanding abuses of power that included “unconstitutional stops, searches, arrests, use of excessive force and theft by officers” - municipal officials reported that the city has seen a 38 percent reduction in citizen complaints against police personnel.

According to Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose:

“From Jan. 1, 2017 to June 30, 2017, the Newark Police Division received 137 citizen complaints against police officers compared to 220 citizen complaints received during the same time last year. This represents a 38 percent reduction, reflecting 83 fewer complaints.”

The reduction comes despite a 14 percent rise in police responses to calls for service, Ambrose stated.

In addition, the Newark Police Department saw a 73 percent decrease in illegal searches, a 30 percent decrease in thefts and a 28 percent reduction in use of force incidents during 2017 as compared to 2016, Ambrose said.

• See related article: Newark’s Overall Crime Rate Drops In 2016

CIVIL RIGHTS IN NEWARK

In March 2016, federal authorities and the City of Newark announced that they reached a settlement involving longstanding allegations that the Newark Police Department has “eroded public confidence” by unconstitutionally harassing its minority residents, particularly African-Americans.

The settlement will bring “wide-ranging reforms and changes to the Newark Police Department,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

• See related article: Civil Rights Probe: Newark, Feds Reach Settlement

According to the U.S Justice Department, the agreement resolves the agency’s findings that the NPD engaged in a pattern of “unconstitutional stops, searches, arrests, use of excessive force and theft by officers” in violation of the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments.

The proposed consent decree also resolves the department’s findings that NPD’s law enforcement practices had a “disparate impact on minorities” in Newark, prosecutors stated.

The Justice Department’s findings were announced in July of 2014 following a three-year investigation.

HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT

Newark residents who want to file an anonymous or named complaint about a city police officer can use an online form available at www.newarkpdonline.org; through a walk-in process at its new, user-friendly Office of Internal Affairs at 494 Broad Street, 1st floor, or by phoning the office at: (973) 733-6171. Residents may also mail in their complaints to the office using a Citizen Complaint Form available at any Newark police facility.

Complaints may also be made through a hotline at 1-888-NWK-IADI (1-888-695-4234), by calling the Police Division’s main number (973) 733-6000 and requesting that a supervisor take the complaint either at the location where the incident occurred or at the resident’s home, or through the NPD’s new Smartphone App.

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Photo: City of Newark Press Office, Flickr