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Zisa, who surrendered to Bergen County authorities in Paramus last night to face insurance fraud charges, could resign as early as today, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the case.
Public officials charged with crimes traditionally have received more lenient treatment when they step down immediately. They’ve also been able to hold onto their pensions.
CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM BROKE THE STORY: Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa turned himself in to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Thursday night on charges of ordering a subordinate to file a false report to cover up a DWI accident his girlfriend had, sources with knowledge of the investigation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. FOR THE FULL STORY: CLICK HERE
Details on how the department will then be monitored will be worked out in conversations — possibly as early as Friday morning — among high-ranking officials representing Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli and state Attorney General Paula Dow, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.
Molinelli’s staff will likely be asked to establish a team of monitors who will make recommendations to city officials on staffing, equipment, training and allocation of departmental resources, among other issues.
The goal in these instances is to run the department efficiently and professionally.
Officers have called recent years a reign of terror, with 15 current and former police officers accusing Zisa of retaliation in federal civil suits filed against him. In most cases, they said, it was because they refused to participate in fundraisers for Zisa, a former Assemblyman, who was hoping to be voted back into office.
New Jersey law clearly establishes the authority of a county prosecutor to take control of the operations of a local police department. It was done several years ago in South Hackensack after officers were charged with gambling, ticket-fixing and other offenses.
The prosecutor is the chief law enforcement officer in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties, with supervisory power over the municipal police departments. The county prosecutors, in turn, are supervised by the state Division of Criminal Justice.
Zisa is being charged in connection with an accident his girlfriend had with his SUV 14 months ago.
Bergen County prosecutors accuse him of submitting a false insurance claim on the crash after ordering a subordinate to write in a police report that a rodent had crossed the road, causing her to swerve and sending the vehicle into a utility pole in town — when, they believe, in fact, that she was intoxicated.
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