Loretta Rivers: ‘We must not allow silence to be the response to tragedy.’
Following our Deadly Discretion report on the killing of 68 year old Deborah McCalla Terrell, NJ21st invited community members and leaders to share their perspectives. Loretta Rivers, Piscataway school board member and former Democratic candidate for New Jersey’s 17th Legislative District Assembly seat, responded with the following statement: Hello NJ21St, I appreciate the curiosity of allowing me to respond. I...
Deadly Discretion: What New Jersey’s Use-of-Force Reforms Still Leave Unanswered
Earlier this month the New Brunswick police were called to a senior apartment building after getting calls about a woman walking in the hallway with a knife. At the end of that encounter, 68-year-old Deborah Terrell was pepper sprayed, tased, and shot multiple times. The incident led to her death, Terrell is the fourth Black resident to be killed by...
Bond Blow-Up, Freelance Shake-Up, Police Records Battle, and Residents Speak Out
Like. What. The. Actual… This week’s newsletter starts with a saga that could fill an entire article. On August 3, NJ21st reported that the Township announced an “emergency” bond meeting for August 4, tied to the July 14, 2025 storm—without attaching a project list. On August 4, the Zoom-only meeting began with no project list available. It was quickly derailed by pornographic...
The Limits of Disclosure… What NJ Monitor’s Supreme Court Victory Means for Police Transparency in NJ
The New Jersey Supreme Court made a big call this week in connection to police transparency. At the center of all this is a Jersey City police officer who allegedly fired his gun while off-duty in 2019 while under the influence. The city launched an internal affairs investigation and The New Jersey Monitor asked for the report a few years...
Medicaid Cuts, Forced Treatment…The Resurgent War on the Poor & What’s Coming for NJ’s Vulnerable
-John Migueis I’ve lived in New Jersey my whole life, and I’ve come to see this state as one strange neighborhood—a dysfunctional family, but still a family. With all it’s defects, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I love NJ, I love saying I’m from NJ and I feel really fortunate to be able to raise my kids here....
Statewide Justice Trends – Visualizing New Jersey’s Prison Landscape
Beyond the raw figures of New Jersey’s justice system are countless individual lives, each deeply shaped by everything from where they grew up to their racial background. This report, using the most recent data from March 2025, may be a starting point in understanding how poverty and entrenched inequalities determine who ends up in prison and for how long. While...
Accountability Gap? Berkeley Heights Named in Attorney General’s 2024 Discipline Report
Back in February, NJ21st published a Community Voices contribution that raised significant concerns about the Township’s oversight of the Berkeley Heights Police Department. At the time, the Township was also pressuring the school district to divert funds intended for students to cover police benefit time—under a contract with no spending caps. We further noted that two sitting council members are...
This Week at NJ21st: Council Ducks Public Scrutiny, Police Transparency Case Heats Up, Business Office Reset at BHPSNJ, and Elections Loom
Quack Quack. In one of the most significant meetings since the school reconfiguration battle the Berkeley Heights Town Council voted on whether to let voters decide the fate of the town’s sewage plant, adopted the municipal budget, and approved millions in new spending. Or did they? There’s no recording of the meeting. Once again, residents are left to rely on...
What Happened After Shots Were Fired: The Fight Over Police Transparency in Jersey City
States Newsroom, the New Jersey Monitor, and attorney CJ Griffin challenge Jersey City in a potentially defining court battle over police transparency. During an August 2019 party, an off-duty Jersey City police officer—Lt. Michael Timmins—allegedly got drunk, got angry, and fired his gun after an argument with guests. No one was hurt. But that’s not really the story. Despite the...
Instability and Controversy: The Devanney Town Council’s Police and Finance Departments
Steven Kark is a resident of Berkeley Heights, NJ The Devanney Town Council has a notable history of instability in two key areas. Berkeley Heights Police Department In June 2024, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office concluded an investigation into the former Chief of Police, uncovering multiple instances of misconduct. The findings revealed that the former Police Chief engaged in inappropriate...
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