Appeals court pushes decision on cop discipline
TRENTON » New Jersey cops who have broken bad can rest easy, for the time being.
A state appeals court issued a stay of AG Gurbir Grewal’s mandate to make public the names of cops throughout the Garden State who were fired, demoted or suspended for more than five days.
The State Troopers Fraternal Association filed suit against Grewal and New Jersey State Police Superintendent Patrick Callahan to prevent the first wave of disciplined state troopers’ names from being made public.
The list was set to be produced by July 15, per Grewal’s directives.
Now that’s on hold for the foreseeable future, and oral argument in the sea-change case is tentatively set for Oct. 15, Appellate Judge Allison Accurso wrote in an order Wednesday.
“Having considered the positions of the officers affected by these dramatic changes and the Attorney General, and aware of the enormous public interest in this issue, illustrated by the applications of the twentyfive organizations that have already petitioned to participate as amicus, we apply well-settled law to preserve the officers’ challenge by staying implementation of the Directives pending our disposition of the appeal,” she wrote. “In light of the importance of the issues and the compelling need for prompt resolution, we accelerate the appeal.”
The STFA suit, initially filed in Mercer County by attorneys Robert R. Cannan and James M. Mets, was transferred to the appellate court.
The unions argued making the names public will irreparably harm officers who may be targeted for harassment. The unions have also suggested cops who were disciplined for “menial” infractions may be lumped in with rogue cops who abuse their powers.
Since the initial suit was filed, at least three other powerful police unions joined the fight. And on Tuesday, the ACLU-NJ and 23 other organizations filed a friend of the court brief supporting Grewal’s mandates.
The ACLU-NJ attorneys said police officers shouldn’t be treated differently than scores of New Jersey employees, including lawyers and judges, who face public scrutiny of their disciplinary infractions.
Mets was “very please” with the stay.
“This will give us an opportunity to flesh out the issues,” he said.
The AG’s office, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
C.J. Griffin, a public records attorney, said the stay effectively keeps the public in the dark for the next few months.
“I am disappointed by today’s decision to temporarily stay the Attorney General’s directives. This moment calls for greater police transparency and accountability, but today’s order effectively delays any disclosure until next year,” the attorney wrote. Hopefully the Legislature will pass Senator [Loretta] Weinberg’s bill to make police disciplinary records subject to OPRA so that the public can start playing an oversight role in New Jersey’s police disciplinary processes.”
Griffin also field a friendof-the-court brief, on behalf of the National Coalition of Latino
Officers and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, in support of the AG mandates.
“This Court must understand that not all law enforcement officers agree with the police union’s position in this appeal,” Griffin wrote. “Many want transparency.”
Not only will the directives promote public trust, Griffin wrote, but they’ll show whether officers of color are disciplined consistently with their white counterparts.
“Minority and women officers often complain of being singled out and punished more severely than their white male counterparts. The AG’s directives will expose those disparities and better protect minority officers from discrimination and retaliation,” Griffin wrote.
Grewal unveiled the initiatives in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin.
Directive No. 2020-5, issued by Grewal on June 15, required every law enforcement agency in New Jersey to annually publish the names of sworn officers who have been suspended for more than five days or who have been demoted or terminated, along with a description of the circumstances that led to the discipline.
The AG on June 19 later issued a follow-up directive requiring the New Jersey Division of State Police, Division of Criminal Justice, and the Juvenile Justice Commission to disclose the identities of their disciplined employees no later than July 15.
Grewal has also pushed to license officers and revisit the state’s decadesold use-of-force guidelines, all in an effort to reform and rebuild trust in New Jersey cops, many of whom he said serve honorably.