Wyckoff Officials: 'We're Dedicated To Unbiased Law Enforcement'

WYCKOFF, N.J. – Local officials said they would fully cooperate with a joint investigation into an e-mail police Chief Benjamin C. Fox allegedly wrote more than a year ago encouraging racial profiling.

The American Civil Liberties Union released the e-mail earlier this month. Fox asked to go on immediately administrative leave at an emergency Township Committee meeting Tuesday night. The committee unanimously granted his request. (The email can be found online here.)

Related: Wyckoff Police Chief Steps Down Amid Racial Profiling Investigation

Wyckoff officials stressed their “unwavering commitment to unbiased and even-handed law enforcement,” in a press release issued Tuesday night, “including its recognition that profiling of any sort is both inappropriate and illegal.”

Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal and Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy said their offices would conduct a joint investigation into the allegations.

Wyckoff officials said they would “fully and completely cooperate” with the investigation “to ensure complete transparency and accountability.”

The ACLU wants Fox fired from his position.

“We’re glad that Wyckoff appears to be cooperating with the Attorney General’s Office,” said Ari Rosmarin, public policy director at the ACLU New Jersey’s office, “but based on what’s in that e-mail, somebody who holds those types of racially influenced types of views on policing should not be a police chief.”

The e-mail specifically referenced “black gang members from Teaneck commit burglaries in Wyckoff. That’s why we check out suspicious black people in white neighborhoods. White kids buy heroin in black NYC neighborhoods.”

“What we have is an e-mail from a police chief that, in black and white, stating that racial profiling has a place in policing,” Rosmarin said. “Both as a Civil Rights questions, and as a matter of law in New Jersey, that’s wrong and illegal.”

Firing Fox isn’t the end of it, the ACLU said.

“Even if Fox is removed, that doesn’t take care of the problem, which is biased-based policing,” Rosmarin said. “At a minimum, we need training on biased-based policing.”