A New Jersey city and its police department show a pattern of misconduct that violates people’s constitutional rights through excessive force and unlawful arrests, the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a new report.
After a yearlong investigation in Trenton, the DOJ published a 45-page report on Nov. 21 saying the police misconduct included unreasonable use of physical force and pepper spray, and wrongful searches and arrests during pedestrian and traffic stops, while the city failed to hold the department accountable or facilitate better training.
The Epoch Times contacted the city and its police department for comment.
The DOJ said that since 2021, Trenton has paid over $7 million in lawsuits over allegations of misconduct.
“Some Trentonians have lost faith in their police department due to these continued failures,” the report stated. “Members of the public have told us they avoid any interaction with the police because they fear the police will violate their rights or will make a bad situation worse.”
The DOJ said Trenton is one of New Jersey’s poorest cities, with a population of 89,620 that is policed by 260 officers. Over the last few decades, the city has lost manufacturing jobs, causing high unemployment.
The DOJ began its investigation in October 2023, conducting interviews with staff and citizens. It found significant shortcomings in training and accountability, the responsibility for which fell at the feet of the Trenton Police Department (TPD), the DOJ said.
The DOJ cited an incident in which an officer allegedly used excessive force to arrest a man. With the man already on the ground, the officer “stomped on his hand three times, kneeled on his head, and kicked him in the shoulder,” the report said. “Yet, three levels of TPD supervisors found the officer’s conduct justified.”
The DOJ alleged that the department made multiple stops and searches without cause, sometimes arresting the people they pulled over.
The investigation relied on “hundreds of police reports,” body camera footage, and interviews with city staff and citizens.
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said in a statement to The Associated Press that all departments involved cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the DOJ’s investigation.
After the investigation was opened, the DOJ said the police department disbanded two of its street enforcement units.
“We found that these units had engaged in constitutional violations, but disbanding the units was not sufficient to end [the department’s] pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing,” the report said. “The violations we found were not limited to the street enforcement units.”
The DOJ said that both the city and the police department have admitted that there is an issue with law enforcement personnel’s actions and that the police department would work with the DOJ on reforms.
Though the New Jersey attorney general sets the police department’s policies, law enforcement hasn’t followed those regulations, the DOJ found. The reform will require enforcing standards and measuring compliance, the DOJ said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
