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Star-Ledger Editorial Board | September 30, 2024
Stop us if you’ve heard this before: The New Jersey State Police have been mishandling internal affairs cases and subjecting officers to racial and gender discrimination, and this pattern of misconduct has become so systemic that Attorney General Matt Platkin has embedded his own team to oversee complaints made to the agency’s IA unit and taken over its human resources department.
Indeed, the cronyism and perfidy detailed in two new reports last week – which triggered the AG’s actions -- may not match this department’s horrendous misdeeds of the past.
But for an institution with a history of racial profiling and using force against minorities -- which has been disgraced by two federal consent decrees and has since sought to improve its practices -- this is yet another alarm bell for Platkin.
And his proposed reforms must be imposed with the understanding that failure by NJSP leadership to change the culture must not be tolerated.
The reports are straight out of the racialized, old boys’ playbook, and they are conclusive enough for Platkin to mandate two dozen reforms that address matters such as the NJSP’s diversity hiring, its promotions process, sick leave practices, the handling of misconduct investigations, and transparency. All good things.
But it took two more scathing reports to bring all this about, and that speaks to a startling lack of oversight from NLSP leadership.
One report from the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) – an anti-corruption unit that lately has targeted the likes of George Norcross – focused on the force’s internal affairs unit, known ironically as the Office of Professional Standards.
The OPIA found that a lieutenant handling an anonymous letter alleging racism against a Black officer turned it into a witch hunt for the source of the claim instead – collecting typewriter samples, fingerprints, and other records. The OPIA concluded that this “squandering of state resources” would have led to a recommendation to dismiss the investigator, Lt. Joseph Nitti, but he retired last year with a $9,000-per-month pension.
The second report, prepared by an independent firm, interviewed 150 officers in its review of the NJSP’s hiring and promotional practices. The short, unambiguous summary: Troopers felt “unable to voice objections or question their lack of promotion” when they believed discrimination was at play.
These two reports convinced Platkin that the IA function of the State Police was “weaponized” against some troopers, while those who were favored by management advanced.
This is a pattern. The NJSP is still under investigation by the US Department of Justice, and it still faces roughly 25 lawsuits by Black, female and LGBTQ troopers who cite a “rampant, deep-rooted pattern and practice of discrimination,” the second report said.
It reflects poorly on the agency, its 3,100 troopers, and its leader since 2017, Col. Patrick Callahan. We wanted to ask why these issues persist, but Callahan cited a need to “work through all the recommendations and corrective actions” before he could comment.
Callahan himself was ordered by Platkin to take charge of the IA unit, and he affirms that he is on board with every other reform – including hiring practices that will boost diversity, expanding annual DEI training, and implementing an anti-hazing policy.
But he is under the microscope, which is where leaders belong. This alone raises red flags: Callahan’s agency employs only 174 female officers – just 5.6% of its policing staff – which is less than half the national average for police agencies.
Claims of racial discrimination, meanwhile, never cease. It was just three months ago that NAACP President Richard Smith blasted the NJSP for allowing “white supremacy and racial discrimination. . . .to thrive and flourish.”
Now Smith is calling for Callahan to be sacked, noting that the NJSP is “an institution consumed with bias against anyone who does not look like the Colonel,” and that reforms will not work “as long as the leaders at the top of the State Police remain in office looking for loopholes and workarounds.”
As public trust craters, the urgency of public access to internal affairs reports and civilian review boards with subpoena power only grows stronger – particular now, as this hasn’t exactly been a gold star year for the Callahan’s agency. Count the ways:
The NJSP was sued by the Public Defender for slow-walking expungements, which led to 40,000 New Jerseyans having their lives placed on hold, needlessly.
A number of state troopers were among the 990 who attended a seminar held by a group of sociopaths known as Street Cop Training, where piles of taxpayer money are spent to learn violent, discriminatory, and illegal law enforcement tactics.
And the State Comptroller exposed the NJSP’s refusal to address racial disparities in traffic stops and its withholding of information – including IA reports – for the annual review that is mandated by law.
We haven’t seen overt evidence of misconduct from Callahan himself, but his department’s regression is undeniable. So is the superintendent’s failure to address the NJSP’s culture and racist legacy.
It might be the most challenging task of leading New Jersey’s largest law enforcement agency, but that’s the job. The entire state is still waiting to see whether he’s up to it.
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