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Our fear of violent street crime should not blind us to the profound evil that is perpetrated when those sworn to uphold and enforce the law themselves become lawbreakers.
— John A. Powell, former ACLU National Legal Director
Police have the vital and difficult job of protecting public safety. Performing this job effectively does not require sacrificing civil liberties. All New Jersey police agencies -- from the state patrol to city police forces -- need to respect the rights of individuals while enforcing the law. And when allegations of misconduct arise, there must be policies and mechanisms to hold police accountable for their actions.
Stop-and-Frisk
Stop-and-frisk. It started out as a rare tactic for police to use if there was reasonable suspicion that a person was committing or about to commit a crime. Unfortunately, in major cities, stop-and-frisk has become a fact of daily life for communities of color.
In Newark, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of how often police are stopping and patting down residents—and why.
Every month, the Newark Police Department (NPD) releases information on all stops, including how many people were stopped, where they were stopped, and whether the stops led to an arrest or not. The information also reveals who officers are stopping by reporting on the race and ages of the individuals, among other details. The ACLU-NJ, which advocated for the release of the data, hopes the information will give the public a better understanding of how the NPD uses stop-and-frisk.
Internal Affairs Roll Call Training Video
The ACLU-NJ has released a roll call training video that explains best practices and guidelines for officers who receive internal affairs complaints. The video, which exclusively features New Jersey law enforcement professionals, is based on the state Attorney General’s statewide guidelines on internal affairs and provides a much-needed tool for training officers.
Related Content
- Internal Affairs Roll Call Training Video
- ACLU Provides NJ police with New Roll Call Training on Internal Affairs
- Attorney General takes step backwards on police Internal Affairs tracking
- Letter to Attorney General Concerning Internal Affairs Statistics (425k PDF)
- The Crisis Continues in Internal Affairs (2012)
- The Crisis Inside Police Internal Affairs (2009)
- Most NJ Police Departments Violate Law on Police Complaints
Police Toolkit
A step-by-step guide that will aid all New Jerseyans in assessing and documenting the treatment of citizens by police in their towns. Both toolkits below are identical except one is in black and white (for easier printing) and the other is in color. The toolkits are in PDF format and are each less than 1.5mb in size.
Press Releases
- January 18, 2022 Legislation Unfairly Allowing Police to View Camera Footage to Write Reports Is Signed into Law
- December 21, 2021 Youth of Color, Black-Led Organizations, and Community Advocates Celebrate Bills on Transparency in School Discipline and Reporting of Number of Mental Health Counselors
- December 20, 2021 Racial Justice Groups Rally for Legislative Action on Key Issues
- October 28, 2021 ACLU-NJ Announces Formation of New Jersey Communities for Accountable Policing, a Statewide Grassroots Coalition
- September 3, 2021 Q&A: An Interview with ACLU-NJ Attorney Karen Thompson
- September 3, 2021 New Jersey's Steps Toward Justice in Policing, a Year After George Floyd's Murder
- August 26, 2021 ACLU-NJ Gives Deep-Dive Analysis of Marijuana Regulations and Submits Petition of Nearly 600 Signatures for Social Justice
- August 19, 2021 Advocates Praise Equity Program and Reasonable License Fees in NJ’s First Cannabis Regulations, and Call for Equity Applicant Status and Guidance for Municipalities
- June 25, 2021 ACLU-NJ, Office of the Public Defender, and Community Partners Call on Governor Murphy to Veto NJ Legislature’s Fast-Tracked Body-Worn Camera Bill, Allowing Police to View Footage Before Filing Reports
- June 24, 2021 NJ Legislature Sends Bill to Stop Immigration Detention in State to Governor’s Desk
Legal Cases
- Thomas & Newsome v. Paterson
A civil rights lawsuit challenging the targeting and arrest of Black Lives Matter leaders at a demonstration.
- Rivera v. Union County Prosecutor's Office
Amicus brief arguing that common law requires public access to internal affairs records, where they can be turned over without revealing identity of witnesses.
- State v. Collado
Case asking the court to apply the exclusionary rule to violations of the “knock-and-announce” requirement in search warrants.
- State v. Myers, State v. Nyema
Police stopped a car based on a vague race-based description of people who committed a robbery. Our amicus brief on behalf of clergy detailed the harm caused by such stops and urged to Court to create a rule that would prohibit them.
- In re: Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive Nos. 2020-05 and 2020-06
Police union challenge to AG directives ordering the public disclosure of the identities of officers sanctioned for serious disciplinary violations.
- Harris v. Newark
The ACLU-NJ joined this case as amicus on the sole issue of whether a denial of qualified immunity to defendant law enforcement as part of a summary judgment motion is appealable on an interlocutory basis in New Jersey state court.
- Asbury Park Press v. Township of Neptune
Amicus brief in support of public access to police internal affairs records.
- State v. Roman-Rosado
Amicus brief addressing the abuse of low level traffic stops by police officers as tools to justify arbitrary and discriminatory invasions into the privacy rights of New Jerseyans.
- Ocean County v. Grewal
Amicus brief in support of the Attorney General’s power to implement the Immigrant Trust Directive
- State v. Alessi
Amicus brief challenging the constitutionality of detaining without probable cause people suspected of past completed crimes.
Op-Eds
- Corzine on My Mind (2009)
- The Best Way to Curb Police Abuse (2008) (49k PDF)
- ACLU-NJ Offers Analysis of AG's Flawed Directive (2007)
- ACLU-NJ Urges AG to Revisit Flawed Directive (2007)
- AG's Guidance Needed On Cops and Immigrants (2007)
- Time to Tell Jersey Police: License, Please (2006)
- ACLU Remains 'Eternally Vigilant' in Opposition to Racial Profiling (2001)
General Information
- The Crisis Continues in Internal Affairs (2012)
- The Crisis Inside Police Internal Affairs (2009)
- The ACLU Supports the Rights of Police (2008) (44k PDF)
Bust Cards: What to Do If Stopped by the Police
- English Bust Card (1mb PDF)
- Spanish Bust Card (96k PDF)
- Portuguese Bust Card (1.3mb PDF)
Can't find what you're looking for? Try looking in the Police Practices Archives.
Confidential Informant Report
In June 2011, the ACLU-NJ and ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project released a study that examines the use of confidential informants in New Jersey. The study revealed inconsistent policies governing the use of confidential informants at all levels of government, which has led to violations of informants' rights and compromises in the integrity of criminal investigations. The report offers a series of recommendations for police departments who use confidential informants and it has spurred three New Jersey counties to begin reforming their policies after reviewing an early draft of the report. View a copy of the Confidential Informant Report now
The Settlement Project: Citizen Edition
Read about some of the 23 recently-settled cases against the Newark Police Department involving civilians, where people received payouts totaling over $1.6 million from the City of Newark because of some kind of police misconduct in the The Settlement Project: Citizen Edition. These cases include some claims of truly reprehensible brutality, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and negligence.
The Settlement Project: Employee Edition
Between January 1, 2008 and the present, eleven cases brought against the Newark Police by its own employees settled, at a taxpayer cost of nearly $2.1 million. Seven more employee cases remain pending. Although taxpayers must foot the entire bill for these settlements, Newark doesn't readily publicize these cases or settlements, which leaves the public in the dark about what claims are made, how they are settled, and what if any corrective action results from these expensive resolutions. Read about some of these cases in the The Settlement Project: Employee Edition.