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“We take all allegations of misconduct seriously, and we immediately began an investigation” into the allegations at the Bergen County Police Academy in Mahwah after being notified of the alleged improprieties.
All of the academy’s instructors except one were relieved of their duties by the New Jersey Police Training Commission (PTC) amid the accusations, Daily Voice exclusively reported on Dec. 16.
As a result, Academy Class #132, which was supposed to begin training this month, has been suspended indefinitely.
This has left law enforcement agencies throughout the county scrambling to get an estimated 100 new hires into academies in other counties.
They weren't having much luck, unfortunately. A few spots in Hudson were quickly snatched up. Passaic, Essex and Morris are all either full up or not starting soon, local police officials told Daily Voice.
Even if the new recruits do get in, it comes at a cost to taxpayers.
“You have to pay to send your people somewhere else,” said a ranking police official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The instructors reportedly were reassigned amid accusations of ethics code violations, including socializing and other alleged relations with recruits before graduation, according to multiple high-ranking law enforcement officers in the county.
Other as-yet unspecified improprieties were being investigated by the PTC as part of what one of them called a “huge systematic issue” among instructors at the academy, which operates as a partnership among the county and both his and the Bergen sheriff’s office.
“There’s a lot of cleaning house going on right now,” another high-ranking law enforcement official told Daily Voice. “No classes will be scheduled until that’s done.”
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EXCLUSIVE REPORT (Dec. 16, 2023): The latest recruits to officially graduate from the Bergen County Police Academy on Friday night might be the last for some time, it appears. READ MORE....
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Musella said through an assistant prosecutor on Dec. 15 that information couldn't be provided by his office "regarding personnel issues and assignments."The spokesperson did not that "none of the BCPO employees assigned to the Police Academy have been fired."
That was all that officially came from Musella's office on the matter until the morning of Thursday, Jan. 4, when the prosecutor revealed that his staff has been conducting an ongoing investigation into “alleged rule violations” at the academy.
The prosecutor also noted: “We have been working collaboratively with the PTC, the County of Bergen, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association to ensure that the Academy provides all police cadets with the highest standards of professional training possible, and we are committed to implementing all reforms recommended by the PTC.
“We are confident that in cooperation with the PTC, the Bergen County Police Academy will be authorized to continue police recruit training in the future,” Musella said.
Bergen County Executive James Tedesco has vowed to do whatever he can going forward. He pledged to “work collectively” with Musella and County Sheriff Anthony Cureton to “implement reforms that will rectify these issues and provide future safeguards."
The upheaval at the academy began with an anonymous letter to the New Jersey Police Training Commission (PTC), multiple sources said.
The organization is responsible for providing basic training courses for -- and certifying -- local and county police, sheriff’s officers, state and county investigators, state and county corrections officers and juvenile detention officers, as well as those in several other law enforcement positions.
The commission also certifies and provides developmental courses for instructors assigned to permanent positions, including those who were at the Bergen academy.
The PTC also “develops operational guidelines to implement applicable training standards, monitors the operation of all PTC certified academies, reviews all trainee injuries and investigates possible violations of the Police Training Act or PTC Rules occurring during authorized training courses,” according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
The upcoming class initially was pushed back to February. Then came word that it had been suspended indefinitely.
Tedesco, the county executive, said he has faith that, working with the PTC, the Bergen County Police Academy will soon be authorized “to continue police recruit training in the future.”
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