TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey’s state police unions, the State Police Fraternal Association and the State Troopers’ Superior Officers Association are both condemning the actions of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Gubir Grewal, stating the new law does nothing but
On June 15, 2020, the Attorney General announced his plan to publicly publish the names of all New Jersey State Troopers who received a suspension of more than 5 days in the past 20 years as a result of an Internal Investigation.
These names are planned to be attached to the already publicly available Office of Professional Standards case synopsis reports by July 15, 2020.
The Attorney General cites “transparency” and that “the public has the right to know that an infraction occurred and that the underlying issue was corrected before that officer potentially returned to duty.”
“These safeguards are already in place. The case synopsis reports are already published,” the union said. “The discipline imposed is already listed. They are all available online. The retrospective attachment of Troopers’ names and republishing old annual reports serve absolutely no legitimate purpose other than to harass, embarrass, and rehash past incidents during a time of severe anti-law enforcement sentiment.”
“It can’t possibly be a deterrent because the violations have already occurred and the suspensions have already been served,” the unions said. “It makes no sense to unmask and re-punish Troopers for administrative violations committed years ago. Furthermore, a significant portion of names would include former Troopers who have been granted honorable retirements and are no longer involved in law enforcement.”
The State of New Jersey completely removes the names of criminal offenders from the Department of Corrections Offender Search web page one year after the completion of their term. Oddly enough, if the Attorney General’s order stands, a Trooper with an administrative rule violation many years ago would have their name posted online in perpetuity while an armed robbery ex-convict has their name permanently removed.
“Let us be perfectly clear: we are more than willing to consider options such as releasing the names of Troopers who were terminated or who are found guilty of violations such as excessive use of force or racially biased incidents, but we need to be involved in these critical discussions,” the union said. “Our willingness to find sensible solutions in the past proves we do not intend to block common sense reforms. We ask the Attorney General to reconsider his decision and treat Troopers who’ve previously accepted discipline and served unpaid suspensions fairly. We ask the Attorney General to respect and honor the confidentiality of Troopers’ identities in place when they signed legally binding disciplinary agreements and voluntarily chose not to appeal. We ask the Attorney General to protect Troopers and their families from becoming potential targets of violent anti-police activists in their homes, communities, and schools. We ask the Attorney General to rescind this order, meet with us on this topic, and find sensible common ground together as we have done so many times before.”
