Why Local Oversight Matters Following the State’s Scathing Pension Report

A new report from the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) raises concerns that serious misconduct by police officers can fail to trigger meaningful pension review that has allowed some employees to retire with full benefits even after significant findings.

According to the report‘ Hidden in Plain Sight: Systemic Weaknesses Risk Integrity of Police & Firemen’s Pension System’….

“The misconduct in many of these cases was very serious, ranging from dishonesty to criminally possessing child pornography, among other criminal and administrative charges. OSC’s review also revealed that, for many of the members, serious misconduct was not an isolated incident, although most of it was never made public. While OSC is unable to provide specific details about the 21 individual members due to the confidentiality concerns described above, the following trends were identified in OSC’s review:

•    13 members were suspended prior to retiring, pending the outcome of a criminal proceeding or other disciplinary process;
•    11 members agreed to resign their law enforcement job as a material term of the settlement agreement;
•    6 members were involved in serious or ongoing misconduct over many years;
•    5 members had criminal charges;
•    3 members were demoted; and
•    2 members were required by court order to give up their law enforcement job.”

The report examines the reliance New Jersey’s pension process has on documents and referral that may not always exist or occur even when an “honorable service” review would be appropriate. The findings suggest the mechanisms in place meant to flag misconduct and apply consequences did not operate reliably.

However, even when the Pension Board received the needed paper trail OSC found that the decision making from one case to the next was “illogical” and “inconsistent”.

Another Cost of Police Privilege  

Pension determinations are usually the most long-term and expensive consequences of a misconduct case, especially when an employee exits their position before discipline is fully resolved or a complete record is transmitted for review.

The OSC’s report indicates that pension scrutiny doesn’t always happen, even when the circumstances would warrant closer evaluation- resulting in a mismatch between what folks would expect to happen and the actual outcome.  One conclusion from the report is that outcomes depend heavily on how misconduct is documented, separations are recorded and whether cases escalate in a way that triggers a deeper review.

OSC warned these failures further strain a pension system already burdened by a $4.4 billion unfunded liability.

Statewide and Locally Relevant  

OSC didn’t frame the issue as being a “one town” or “one department” issue -pointing to weaknesses in the process across the state.

NJ21st previously flagged a Berkeley Heights entry in the Attorney General’s 2024 Major Discipline Report that raised questions about this very issue. While the OSC did not reference specific cases or municipalities in this most recent report, the matter bears relevance.

What residents should watch for in their own towns

When confronted with a discipline and separation case involving the Police or any public employee, it is critical for residents to initiate records requests or attend their local council meetings and ask questions seeking answers to the following questions…

– What record is preserved and how is the resignation being described?  Is there a policy that outlines a process, does it promote diligence and is it being followed?

-Is a paper trail being maintained even if the employee already left their position?

-What steps did the employer take to ensure the pension system receives the full context it needs to evaluate honorable service?

-Are separation agreements structured in a way that ensures clarity on the underlying misconduct record?

These questions directly connect to the 15 recommendations outlined in the recent OSC Report.

We reached out to the NJ OSC requesting information on what municipalities were reviewed and will provide an update if and when it’s received.

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