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As reported by nj.com, complaints against New Jersey State Police troopers for everything from excessive force to minor paperwork violations fell for the fourth year in a row in 2010, but more troopers faced the most serious allegations of misconduct, a new report shows. The public and other officers filed 848 complaints against troopers in 2010, down from 886 in 2009 and the fewest of any year during the past decade, according to the report, issued late last week by the division’s Office of Professional Standards.

The complaints spawned misconduct investigations of 437 troopers, the most since 2006. With only about half of these 290 investigations against the troopers completed, 62 charges were substantiated, also the most since 2006, according to the report and past statistics. The State Police did not identify the troopers involved or elaborate on their infractions. The report also said that the division received 1,137 citizen compliments last year thanking troopers for their work.

Christopher Burgos, the newly-elected president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, said the numbers were impressive given that troopers had more than two million encounters with citizens in 2010. “Put us against any agency out there, and no one’s under the scrutiny we are,” Burgos said. “The high performance and professionalism far excels any other agency out there. But we take seriously what goes on with disciplinary matters and will defend our members appropriately.”  

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey said it was still reviewing the report but criticized the division for not including the race or ethnicity of those who filed complaints, the number of pending cases from prior years or the number of punishments handed down by the type of complaint. Deborah Jacobs, president of the ACLU, said it will be hard to draw any conclusions from the report because it is too vague. “Unfortunately, the state provides less and less information to the public about the State Police rather than more and more,” Jacobs said. “We’re also very concerned that it took a full calendar year to release.”

Lieutenant Stephen Jones, a spokesman for the State Police, said the report included the same information as it always has in the past. He said it came out late in the year because the office was more focused on closing outstanding cases. Jones also said a higher percentage of complaints are being generated internally, which shows the division is better policing itself.

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As reported by nj.com, four years after a State Police union leader, David Jones, tangled with radio talk show host Craig Carton, the sizzle has long gone out of the feud. Yet, the labor dispute it spawned lives on.

Jones faced a five-day suspension for bringing personal information about Carton to a news conference after the shock jock criticized troopers on his New Jersey 101.5 FM radio show. But Jones never served the suspension, and he filed a labor complaint saying the state was trying to silence him. The complaint has never been acted on by the Public Employment Relations Commission, which handles disputes between labor and management.

In a twist, the complaint has languished for so long that Jones is now a member of the commission with which it was filed. He was nominated by Governor Chris Christie last month. Christine Lucarelli-Carneiro, the commission’s deputy general counsel, said that members routinely recuse themselves from cases in which they have a stake.

The complaint, not yet closed, may never need to reach the full commission, which includes labor and management advocates. Lucarelli-Carneiro said the state and the union indicated early on that the dispute could be settled amicably.

The labor dispute stems from a 2007 feud between Jones, the outspoken president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, and Carton, an acerbic radio talker who was one of two “Jersey Guys” on 101.5 known for their irreverence. Carton and his co-host, Ray Rossi, accused the State Police of planning a “ticket blitz” to harass motorists. Enraged, Jones called a news conference at the Statehouse to denounce the accusation as false. He brought a piece of paper with Carton’s home address and other personal information.

Jones halted his campaign at the request of State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes. But the state attorney general at the time, Stuart Rabner, said Jones’ actions were inappropriate and undermined the State Police. Fuentes responded by issuing a five-day suspension to Jones, who wants it rescinded on the grounds that the disciplinary action infringes on his right to represent his union members.

“The wrongful actions taken by the public employer are retaliatory in nature,” the complaint says. ‘The actions are clearly intended to discourage union representatives in the exercise of rights guaranteed by the (New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act).”

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As reported in the Trentonian on September 22, 2009, federal oversight of the New Jersey State Police has come to an end. U.S. District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper has ended federal monitoring of the New Jersey State Police more than 10 years after the shooting of unarmed minority men during a highway traffic stop prompted intervention over racial profiling.

Judge Cooper signed the order dissolving a consent decree, following a joint motion filed in August by the State and U.S. Justice Department. The move followed Governor Jon Corzine’s bill signing in August that established an office within the State Attorney General’s office to oversee the State Police.

State Police agreed to federal oversight after troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike shot at a van containing four minority men during a 1998 traffic stop, wounding three of them. The agency has implemented major changes since then, including training and new supervisory policies to monitor road stops. In addition, trooper vehicles now contain dashboard cameras to videotape traffic stops. 

In a 2007 semiannual report, federal monitor Jim Ginger said that the State Police force is a different organization than when troopers fired on the van. Ginger and a second monitor tracked troopers’ stops of minority motorists for years, issuing reports every six months. The monitors found the State Police consistently in compliance for several years before the judge lifted the order. Corzine confirmed the finding with an independent review.

David Jones, President of the State Police Fraternal Association, commended the troopers but condemned the Attorney General’s office for not having policies and systems in place that would have allowed the State Police to identify and resolve isolated incidents of profiling. Specifically, Jones stated, “Former attorneys general for their own political expediency were willing to throw the state police under the bus…a decade later, we can look back at who the true professionals are and at those people who would sacrifice public safety for their own careers.”

To view the article in its entirety, please click on the following link.

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