ACLU accuses Newark police of
false arrests, excessive force
NEWARK — The American Civil
Liberties Union will ask for a federal investigation of the Newark Police
Department Thursday, saying it routinely violates residents' civil rights
through excessive force and false arrests.
Citing dozens of lawsuits and
years of internal affairs statistics, the ACLU says the department is incapable
of policing itself. Its report says records show that out of 261 complaints in
2008 and 2009 involving excessive force, differential treatment or improper
arrest, entry or search, only one was sustained. One officer has faced 62
internal affairs investigations in an almost 14-year career, according to a
lawsuit, and his lawyer said none have been sustained.
Deborah Jacobs, executive
director the ACLU in New Jersey, said the petition is the first step in a
process she hopes will end with the same kind of consent decree and federal
oversight imposed on the State Police a decade ago in response to the racial
profiling scandal.
"This is a last
resort," she said. "I don’t see how we can get things straight in
this administration without external help, expertise and resources."
Top Newark officials said the
ACLU petition was undermining progress in the city.
"The city of Newark was
extremely disappointed when it reviewed the ACLU’s petition," said Julian
Neals, the city’s top lawyer. "The city feels that the ACLU petition is
frivolous and submitted in bad faith."
Neals said it’s disingenuous
for the ACLU to focus on lawsuits that were submitted before the current
administration took office. In addition, he emphasized that many of the
settlements paid out by the city were only small amounts and included no
admission of guilt.
Mayor Cory Booker was angered
by the ACLU petition.
"It’s casting unnecessary
aspersions on the police department through the distortion of facts."
He said the city had tried to
cooperate with the agency on numerous issues but now feels the ACLU has
unfairly shut down that relationship.
Booker said the ACLU is
promoting "negative stereotypes" of Newark and not giving the city
credit for its progress.
Federal oversight of local
police departments is rare and used in response to a "pattern or
practice" of violating people’s rights. In a 96-page petition being
submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice, the ACLU says it has documented
such a pattern in the state’s largest municipal police department of 1,300
officers.
"Qualitatively, it seems
like Newark’s problems are far worse than in other cities where the Department
of Justice has intervened," said Flavio Komuves, the ACLU lawyer who
compiled the petition.
A U.S. Department of Justice
spokeswoman declined to comment on the petition or whether an investigation
will be conducted, but said it will be reviewed.
The state Attorney General’s
Office said it has not seen the ACLU petition.
"We are always concerned
where there are allegations of police misconduct," spokesman Peter
Aseltine said. "But we’re not in a position where we can comment."
The petition, which says Newark
police are "beset with serious systemic problems," follows a spike in
homicides this summer. It also comes months before the department, in the wake
of a city budget crisis, could be forced to layoff 167 officers and demote an
another 112.
City officials have maintained
Newark police have made progress in some areas. Overall crime in the state’s
largest city is down 21 percent from 2006.
Jacobs said she and Newark
police have worked together on reform issues. But, she said, those efforts have
fallen short and police have failed to improve in key areas.
"Consistently there’s been
a will to try and make changes," she said. "But between crime and a
lack of resources, things have consistently been back-burnered."
University of Nebraska-Omaha
criminal justice professor Samuel Walker, a nationwide expert on police
accountability who advised the ACLU on its petition, said federal intervention
is sometimes necessary to advance reform.
"When you have a really
dysfunctional department, federal intervention is a way of forcing a major
overhaul," he said. "At some point, that begins to change the culture
of the department into a culture of accountability."
Anthony Ambrose, chief of
detectives at the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and a former Newark police
chief, said federal oversight is often resisted but can be beneficial.
"No law enforcement
executive wants a consent decree or someone looking over your department,"
Ambrose said. "But it’s not a bad thing. It’s another avenue for reforms,
if needed."
Derrick Hatcher, president of
the Newark chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said an investigation is
unecessary. "We know how to police our police," he said.
The ACLU cited lawsuits and
civilian complaints as evidence of excessive force and improper arrests within
the department.
"The individual cases
don’t necessarily shock my conscience," Komuves, the ACLU lawyer, said.
"What shocks my conscience is the sheer number of them."
Among the lawsuites cited by
the ACLU, one claims a man was smashed in the face by a police officer,
requiring doctors to wire his jaw shut. A lawyer for another man said his
client still has trouble holding a pen in his writing hand after being tackled
during an arrest. A third suit, filed in October 2009, said Jose Quinonez was
assaulted by Officer Alan Knight, who has faced 62 previous internal
investigations.
Knight’s lawyer, Ronald Ricci,
said his client was on his way to work and stopped to chase down two suspects
when Quinonez attacked him.
"He’s getting sued for
trying to protect the residents of Newark," Ricci said.
None of the internal
investigations of Knight has been sustained, Ricci said, adding it’s common for
suspects to file complaints after being arrested in an attempt to get out of
trouble.
"Most of them (complaints)
are from people with multiple criminal records," he said. "There are
always injuries consistent with resisting arrest. People are just looking for
money."
Overall, $2.04 million has been
paid out in settlements in the past 2 1/2 years to civilians who filed lawsuits
against Newark police, according to the ACLU. Almost half the money went to the
family of Rasheed Moore, who was shot and killed by two police officers during
a motor vehicle stop that turned violent in 2005.
Another $2.69 million is being
paid to officers who sued the department for allegations like harassment,
discrimination and retaliation.
"They’re lumping things together
to give the impression that Newark has lost all its money due to successful
litigation. That is absolutely not true," Booker said of the ACLU.
"(Jacobs is) making the implication that there’s a bigger problem than we
have."
The ACLU petition names 11
officers who have faced criminal charges in the last 2 1/2 years. Nine remain
with the department on administrative duty.
The ACLU also points to records
saying police rarely sustain misconduct complaints against themselves, saying
that’s evidence officers aren’t being held accountable.
A 2006 federal study of large
police departments nationwide said 8 percent of excessive force complaints are
sustained. But Newark police did not uphold a single excessive force complaint
in 2009, 2008, or 2007, according to annual reports. In that time period, 195
such complaints were filed.
"You’re going to tell me
200 people made internal affairs complaints and the majority made it up? That
doesn’t make sense," Jacobs said. "This attitude that people lie and
make stuff up all the time, I find that disrespectful to the citizenry of
Newark and I don’t think it reflects the reality."
Asked about the level of
sustained complaints within the department, Police director Garry McCarthy said
the figures proved nothing.
"So the cop always has to
be wrong?" McCarthy said. "Drug dealers make allegations against
police officers every day to stop them from doing their job."
Joseph Santiago, the current
Irvington police director who previously led the Newark department, said the
low number of sustained complaints would be "a cause for concern if I was
the director" and may require further investigation.
