ILLEGAL STOP
Trenton Police Director illegally conducts traffic stop, video shows
TRENTON » City Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. appeared to be reliving his glory days as a cop.
But Trenton’s top law enforcement official overstepped his authority by illegally pulling over a vehicle on June 22, video shows that was obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request. As a civilian police director, Parrey “cannot perform police duties including conducting motor vehicle stops, engaging in patrol activities, answering calls for service and stopping or detaining individuals,” according to documents by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.
With his Ford Explorer equipped with flashing lights and sirens, Parrey pulled over a Volkswagen SUV across the street from police headquarters on North Clinton Avenue for a motor vehicle violation shortly before 3 p.m.
When officers arrive to assist with the stop, Parrey is already at the driver’s side window of the vehicle that he pulled over, police body camera video shows.
“How about registration? Do you happen to have that?” Parrey, who is wearing a dress shirt and orange tie, asks the driver.
After the director is given the documents, Parrey retreats back to his vehicle — with its lights flashing — and explains to officers why he pulled over the vehicle.
“He come ripping around the whole other f**king side when I was coming through the intersection,” Parrey says.
City officers then run the driver’s information.
“He’s clear,” the officer says in the video that is heavily muted and redacted. “His license is good. Her license is suspended but that’s not an issue.”
Even with the officers at the scene, Parrey returned to the Volkswagen to complete the stop and returned the occupants’ documents.
No violations were issued from the stop, police said.
City police officers, who wished to remain anonymous, alerted The Trentonian about the illegal stop.
Police documents state the civilian police director cannot wear a uniform, carry a badge or firearm nor operate a vehicle equipped as a police car.
“Parrey is doing things against state rules,” one officer said. “He wears a badge and his gun isn’t concealed. He’s a civilian that thinks he’s a cop.”
Officers also alleged that Parrey, a retired city police captain, went after former Police Director Joseph Santiago, who served from 2003 until 2008, for acting in the same way.
“Parrey and then-PBA President George Dzurkoc made a big deal out of it but now it’s OK for Parrey to do it,” an officer said about the director acting like a cop. “It was not good for Santiago, but it’s OK for Parrey. That’s just not right.”
When reached by phone on Monday, Parrey said, “I’m going to keep my comments to myself.”
Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson, who appointed Parrey to his position in July 2014, did not return a message seeking comment.
The police director has come under fire recently.
Last month, The Trentonian reported and published a video of Parrey calling residents “hoodrats.”
“There’s a lot of kids out here,” Parrey says in the footage from a police body camera that was shot on Aug. 23, 2016 on the 500 block of Lamberton Street. “But even coming down earlier on, there’s a lot of hoodrats out, up and down. Just send them on their way.”
Despite calls for Parrey’s resignation, the mayor stood behind his police director.
“The guy is of high integrity,” Jackson said last month. “He’s done a great job as a police director for me and for this city.”
Parrey ultimately apologized two days after the video surfaced.
Several officers say Parrey has “lost the respect from the men and women” in the police department.
“I think the director’s bad for the city,” said one officer, who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t think he cares about the people. We have all these shootings every night and he’d rather do a photo op with the mayor or with the kids than say something about the violence. It’s just like a war zone out here and he’s hiding under the table.”
Parrey is also criticized by the rank and file officers for surrounding himself with “yes men.”
“‘Yes’ men don’t do the job, they just keep telling you ‘yes,’” one officer said. “The men and women of this department — it’s torn.”
Attacks have also picked up against Parrey since his buddy, Dzurkoc, was voted out as PBA Local 11 president.
The city switched to the civilian police and fire director positions following a referendum in 1999 under former Mayor Douglas Palmer. The city was reeling from the police killing of Jenny Hightower, a 14-year-old African-American girl, who was gunned dun in 1998 as a passenger in a stolen vehicle, igniting racial tensions.
According to city code, the police director is responsible for the “routine day-to-day operations” of the department and implementing policies and rules. Nowhere does it say the director has the authority to pull anyone over.
Immediately after The Trentonian inquired about Parrey’s stop to police, the director stopped using his SUV that is equipped with sirens and lights that was seen in the video.
“He likes control,” one officer said. “He wants to be the man and he’s not.”