The US Department of Justice and the city of Newark, New Jersey, have reached a settlement to resolve decades of “unconstitutional misconduct” by the Newark Police department — including unjustified stops, excessive force, racial and gender bias, and retaliation against residents who questioned police actions.
Officials are expected to outline the precise terms of the settlement at the US Attorney’s office in Newark at 11am Wednesday.
In the 49-page report, released in July 2014, the DOJ said that 75 per cent of Newark police officers “failed to articulate legal basis sufficient legal basis” for pedestrian stops. Police described such offenders as “milling,” “loitering,” or “wandering,” but gave no indication that those stopped gave them reasonable suspicion for criminal activity.
Newark Police were also found to stop black residents at a disproportionate rate. “As a result,” the report states, “black individuals in Newark bear the brunt of the NPD’s pattern of unconstitutional stops and arrests.”
The DOJ also alleged that Newark Police detained and arrested people who “lawfully object to police actions.”
Other concerns in the report included how Newark police dealt with victims of sexual assault and trauma, which DOJ attributed to ignorance and gender bias. “Specifically, there is evidence that some NPD officers and detectives have made mistaken assumptions about who can or cannot be a ‘true’ victim of sexual assault,” including sex workers, employers nightclubs or “adult establishments,” and women who consumed alcohol. The report added that the NPD had not provided support for sexual assault victims to cope with their trauma, such as counseling or a competent liaison.
“The City of Newark is diminished,” the DOJ said in the report, “and the NPD rendered less effective, by these patterns and practices of unconstitutional conduct.”
The specific terms of the settlement have not yet been made public.
