Police out of control in New Jersey

Evidence is mounting that police forces in THE STATE of New Jersey are spiraling out of control. More and more incidents of abuse and misconduct are hitting the papers. Most recently, Joseph Rios of Passaic was caught on tape viciously beating a man who suffers from schizophrenia.

It seems that 20 years of reflexively lauding police forces nationwide has resulted in a critical lack of focus on the rights of citizens accosted by police forces.

With police stations in nearly all 566 municipalities, various bridge and authority police, the State Troopers, county police, county sheriffs, and even the various college police departments, New Jersey is clearly over-policed. Yet there is little incentive for towns to change the status quo, as the police have become front line tax collectors for munis around the state.

Making matters worse, New Jersey’s suburban towns boast relatively low crime rates, yet their police forces are lavishly rewarded with special treatment and disproportionately high pay and benefits. Really, why is it that in these tough economic times, when families are forced to tighten their belts, every town in the state seems to be buying those new black Dodges with the tints? You do know who is paying for those hot cars, right?

We at THE STATE wonder why NJ police insist on devouring taxpayers’ time and money by hauling petty offenders in on every charge in the book? Meanwhile our elected officials are engaged in a wholesale pillage of taxpayer dollars from state coffers. Between legal fees, overtime pay, jail costs, probation costs, parole costs, time and wages lost, insurance surcharges…the bill incurred by New Jersey’s zero-tolerance police forces is staggering.

Make no mistake, there are certainly police forces who deserve nothing but our praise. The NYPD and Philadelphia PD, who spend their days fighting real crime come to mind. Of course the police forces of Camden, Newark, Jersey City, and the rest of New Jersey’s inner cities also deserve praise for their daily battles.

But the suburban police who wait in hiding to ambush average citizens on their way to work or home to their families…well, we can’t picture their actions as worthy of respect. To us, the police seem little more than local bullies.

And frankly, we at THE STATE think that local police forces are the most visible sign of racism in our nation. If some officers would hold themselves to the standards they hold civilians to, the world would be a better place.

Let’s just take a little look at some of the recent incidences of police abuse in New Jersey:

So called police officer Joseph Rios of Passaic caught on tape visciously
beating a man who suffers from schizophrenia.

ACLU report on routine mishandling of internal affairs complaints

Case of the trooper who killed two teenage girls trying to catch a speeder goes to trial. (June 5th, 2009)

Bergen County prosecutor says “We don’t believe use-of-force reports should be released to the public.” (The Bergen Record, June 4th, 2009)

Nearly 100,000 complaints were filed against New Jersey police from 1996 to 2005 (The Bergen Record, June 4th, 2009)

Cop sentenced for having sex with a hooker (The AP, May 29, 2009)

Newark police accused of holding two football players and their Coach at gunpoint then covering up the internal affairs complaint. (Star Ledger, Apr 24, 2009)

Sgt. Jonathan Gardenhire of Franklinville allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman on Easter Sunday.
(Gloucester County Times, April 23, 2009)

Plainfield Detective Richard Brown steals $8,000 from local PBA; avoids jail. Police director Hellwig on the 24 year department veteran turned felon: “My heart goes out to Detective Brown.” That’s a 5 year prison sentence Brown did not receive. (Star Ledger. Apr 23, 2009)

Bergen County Corrections officer Keith Dayer caught buying 5 bags of heroin and cocaine in broad daylight. (Herald News, April 19, 2009)

Former Berkely Police officer Peter J. Santella accused of creating a peephole in the bathroom of a pet store he co-owned. The same office retired after being caught in possession of two mountain bikes. The fourth degree invasion of privacy charge was amended down to a disorderly persons offense. (Home News Tribune, April 8, 2009)

The list goes on. With the number of laws designed to protect the police on the books, its time to look at protecting the citizens for a change. Let’s get some audio recorders on police. Let’s create harsh mandatory sentences for police misconduct. Let’s curtail the police’s right to search a person or their property in this state. New Jersey is still in America, though it sometimes seems to be just barely.

And that’s your Freditorial.

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