JACKSON – A recently filed lawsuit by the township’s police chief has called into question just who is in charge of the police department.
One of the controversies this year within the governing body was the creation of a public safety director position at a salary of $200,000.
Councilmen Steven Chisholm and Nino Borrelli opposed the idea, expressing that more consideration was needed and they also questioned whether it was actually necessary. Some residents agreed, calling it a further cash drain on taxpayers. A majority of council members, however, voted it into existence.
Council President Jennifer Kuhn, and Councilmen Scott Sargent and Mordechai Burnstein supported the creation of the position. They stated it was also needed to address some personnel issues that had arisen between the chief and police personnel and that the new position would allow the chief to address other matters of the department. The position was said to have been created to assist and not replace Police Chief Matthew Kunz.
Prior to Public Safety Director Joseph Candido’s hiring, the township’s insurance provider agreed to a $1.2 million payout to a family of a bystander who died during a police pursuit. A settlement was reached shortly after the chief’s testimony during the trial where Kunz was asked about the driving record of the officer who chased the suspect.
That officer had more that 12 incidents of reckless driving on his record and they included several incidents while on duty, operating police vehicles.
Kunz also received some criticism by the department’s police unions for hiring practices and expressed that there had been a lack of communication between the chief and police staff.
A requirement of the position was for all applicants to have a minimum of 20 years police service with police management and have held the rank of sergeant or higher. In March, the position was approved in a 3-2 vote and Sgt. Joseph Candido, a former police union leader, was chosen a month later to serve in that role. Kunz himself originally held that title years earlier prior to the township dropping that position in favor of a police chief which Kunz became.
Mayor Michael Reina described the hire as “a force multiplier. Not only does it allow the chief of police to handle the day-to-day management of our police officers and the security of the township, but it also frees him from the constant bombardment of new mandates, regulations, and changes being directed at police officers and departments statewide by the Attorney General’s Office.”
The mayor explained the new position, “will ensure our department complies with regulations recently imposed by Trenton and is ready for whatever changes occur to continue to reform policing standards in New Jersey. This position allows our chief and our officers to focus on keeping our community safe, while the new director role will navigate our town and our department through the regulations and red tape.”
Candido said after being sworn in that he was, “looking forward to working with everybody, being transparent, and moving us forward from where we are right now. I want to thank the men and women in the Jackson Township Police Department; without them, I wouldn’t be who I am.”
“They are an amazing group of men and women with such talent and we’re going to make it shine even more working together,” Candido added.
The litigation notes a rift within the department concerning the administration of the two positions and their separate duties and responsibilities. The lawsuit includes allegations involving the mayor’s decision to appoint Candido, now a sitting police lieutenant in the role of public safety director.
The lawsuit filed in New Jersey Superior Court in Ocean County by Secaucus Attorney John P. Nulty, Jr. is pending before Judge Valter Must. A hearing has not been scheduled yet at the writing of this article.
The lawsuit alleges that in his eight months on the job, Candido took more authority over the department than the position allowed and that he usurped much of the chief’s own authority. It also challenges disciplinary actions he took against Kunz and notes a conflict between the mayor and the chief.
By statute, Kunz has the right to administer and enforce rules and regulations subject to the municipal police department and to review and administrate the department’s daily operations, the suit states. These statutory rights are designed to insulate chiefs of police from political pressures and to permit them freedom to manage their departments free from unnecessary interference.
The management of a police department is therefore subject only to general regulatory oversight by an “appropriate authority” which is normally the mayor or another high-ranking municipal official. The Attorney General’s Internal Affairs Practices and Procedures (IAPP) further protects police chiefs from political influence by stimulating that any investigations of misconduct by police chiefs are subject to a rigid procedural framework.
Such investigations must be carried out by the County Prosecutor’s Office or Attorney General’s Office, which then submits its findings to the appropriate authority.
The lawsuit alleges that the municipality interfered with Kunz’s statutory rights and procedural protections and notes that the ordinance that was passed that hired Candido designated him with ultimate supervisory authority over the Department’s daily affairs and, consequently, over Kunz.
The litigation also alleges that the ordinance doesn’t name the Public Safety Director as the “appropriate authority” with the attendant statutory powers to oversee the police department’s general procedures, but instead names the Township Manager (Business Administrator Terence Wall) as the “appropriate authority.”
Once hired, Candido exercised “absolute and total authority over the Department’s daily operations, including personnel assignments and duties, uniform and badge requirements, purchasing authority, equipment assignments, police investigatory affairs, and officer discipline,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges that Candido removed Kunz from the decision-making process and in some instances reversed the chief’s prior orders. On two occasions, Candido allegedly issued disciplinary actions toward the chief which according to the lawsuit is in direct violation of the IAPP and the operating procedures of the township police department.
One disciplinary action involved Kunz failing to make a disciplinary recommendation concerning a department officer in a timely manner. That resulted in a one-day suspension. More recently the chief was served with a notice of discipline after he waited to renew a license for an officer of the department.
The litigation takes issue with the two disciplinary actions taken toward Kunz stating Candido failed to comply with the requirements of both the IAPP and the Department’s Standard Operating Procedures.
The suit seeks the dismissal of those disciplinary charges and removing them Kunz’s police record.
The litigation notes that beyond the public safety director not having been designated by the township to serve as the “appropriate authority” and not permitted any authority against the chief, the appropriate authority is intended to be a position filled by a civilian, such as the mayor, with general policy oversight of a department’s affairs which suggests that the “appropriate authority” can’t act as a law enforcement officer or manage the police department’s daily duties.
Another item listed in the lawsuit states that Candido is barred from serving as the Director of Public Safety by the common law incompatibility doctrine, which prohibits public officials and employees from serving in dual roles, one of which is subordinate to the other because he serves as a lieutenant in the police department and is subordinate to Kunz and therefore can’t serve in an additional role that would involve supervisory authority over the police chief.
The lawsuit also seeks “permanent injunctive relief prohibiting Director Candido from interfering with Kunz’s authority to manage the day-to-day operations of the Police Department, including, but not limited, to the ability to regulate personnel assignments, shift policies, uniform rules, budget approvals, press releases, directing law enforcement personnel, seeking confidential information, and equipment allocations.”
It also calls for “prohibiting Director Candido from engaging in law enforcement activities, including, but not limited to, conducting motor vehicle stops; answering calls for service; engaging in patrol activities; speaking with officers or department employees regarding confidential police matters; issuing directives to officers or department employees; having unfettered access to police headquarters; stopping or detaining individuals; arresting individuals as a police officer; wearing a police uniform, visible gun, or badge; operating a vehicle equipped as a police vehicle, including police hand radios; accessing criminal investigative records or criminal history record information; accessing areas of the police department where confidential information is discussed or displayed; accessing the police department’s video surveillance and security system; directing or participating in the investigation of any criminal activity; and carrying a firearm in the performance of his duties.”
The Jackson Times reached out to Mayor Reina, Township Attorney Gregory McGuckin, Business Administrator Wall, Police Chief Kunz and Public Safety Director Candido for comment for this story.
Chief Kunz replied that he would need to review this request with his attorney to determine “what might be appropriate, in terms of a reply” but no further response was received. No reply was received by the others contacted for this article.
