DOJ finds pattern of misconduct in Trenton police department

The Department of Justice has found a pattern of misconduct in a New Jersey police department.

The Trenton Police Department has engaged in a pattern of stops, searches and arrests without legal basis and used unlawful use of excessive force, including physical force and unnecessary use of pepper spray, according to a new report from the Justice Department. The report also found discrepancies in the department’s training, supervision and accountability.

“The people of Trenton deserve nothing less than fair and constitutional policing,” said Philip R. Sellinger, U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.

“When police stop someone in Trenton, our investigation found that all too often they violated the constitutional rights of those they stopped, sometimes with tragic consequences.”

The DOJ began its investigation on Oct. 17, 2023. Through interviews, reviews of records and looking through hours of body camera footage, the DOJ said it found multiple instances of officer conduct violating the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

In one incident from last year, officers initially used reasonable force to arrest a man, but then an officer “stomped on the man’s hand multiple times once he was on the ground, kneeled on his head and kicked him in the shoulder.”

The department also stopped pedestrians and cars on numerous occasions without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. The officers would often unlawfully arrest the stopped individual during searches.

In an encounter from 2022, officers drove the wrong way down a one-way street after seeing a man pull something out of his bag as he talked to a Black woman in her parked car. The officers allegedly determined the item must be drugs.

The man ran off as the officers approached, and one officer opened the woman’s car door and grabbed her by the wrist.

“What is going on? Why are you arresting me?” the woman asked as the officer handcuffed her.

As the officer pulled her by her handcuffs, the woman protested that the officer was hurting her, they responded, "Get the f‑‑‑ out of the car or you're going to get pepper sprayed.”

No drugs were found after searching the woman and her car.

The Trenton Police Department’s misconduct cost the city more than $7 million since 2021 to resolve lawsuits stemming from accusations of officer misconduct, according to the Justice Department.

The DOJ has compiled a list of reforms for the Trenton Police Department, including revising its use of force policies, guidance on stops, searches and arrests, and requiring officers to report instances of misconduct.

“Police officers must respect people’s civil and constitutional rights and treat people with dignity,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.