DOJ investigation finds Trenton PD in violation of U.S. Constitution

New Jersey’s Trenton Police Department and the City of Trenton are accused of violating the U.S. Constitution by unlawfully utilizing excessive unit and making amerciable arrests, according to an probe led by the Department of Justice.

In the scathing DOJ study published Thursday, the agency’s civilian rights part said TPD officers systematically usage excessive unit — including the “unreasonable” usage of carnal unit and capsicum spray, adjacent erstwhile there’s nary important absorption oregon danger.

US Department of Justice

In an undated representation from a Justice Department report, a Trenton PD serviceman capsicum sprays a suspect. (US Department of Justice)

Trenton constabulary person besides been recovered to routinely behaviour postulation stops and marque arrests “without tenable suspicion oregon probable cause.”

The violations that person not lone “eroded assemblage trust,” the DOJ said, but outgo the metropolis more than $7 cardinal since 2021 successful lawsuits involving accusations of serviceman misconduct.

“Police officers indispensable respect people’s civilian and law rights and dainty radical with dignity,”  Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said successful a statement. “After an extended review, we recovered that constabulary officers successful Trenton routinely failed to respect the Fourth Amendment rights of those who telephone Trenton home.”

The 45-page study follows a yearlong probe into Trenton constabulary aft aggregate allegations of civilian rights violations successful the New Jersey capital. One of those accusations stemmed from a 2023 incidental erstwhile an serviceman stomped connected a man’s manus “multiple times erstwhile helium was connected the ground” during an apprehension attempt. The serviceman besides kneeled connected the man’s caput and kicked him successful the shoulder.

“For excessively long, the residents of Trenton person felt acrophobic of the police, alternatively than protected by them,” New Jersey U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said successful a quality release. “The usage of excessive unit and unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests, sometimes with tragic consequences, person eroded nationalist spot and undermined nationalist safety.”

The study besides listed implicit 2 twelve recommendations designed to “provide a model for changes” that some the metropolis and the section should instrumentality to amended nationalist information and trust.

In a connection shared with the press, Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said the metropolis would proceed to enactment with the DOJ, authorities agencies and the assemblage “to instrumentality the recommendations highlighted successful the study arsenic rapidly arsenic possible.”