Journalists Create a Database to Track Bad New Jersey Cops
The state doesn't track use-of-force incidents, so NJ.com did its own research.
An alarming number of New Jersey cops have used excessive force, but the state has done very little to track these incidents. In an effort to promote accountability and transparency in policing, NJ.com has taken up the gauntlet.
The Force Report, released this week, is a database based on 506 public records requests and 72,607 use-of-force reports from 2012 to 2016. With this information, New Jersey residents in any town can see the rates of excessive force in their town.
In Newark, for example, there were 2,580 use-of-force incidents over the course of five years—28.6 incidents for every 1,000 arrests made. That's the largest number of these incidents in the state.
The report also allows residents to see the relevant officers' names. Louis Weber, for example, has been identified in at least 36 excessive force incidents in Newark. In 2014, Weber was accused of planting drugs on a suspect to justify excessive force in his arrest.
The report's metadata covers the racial breakdown of incidents, the poor incident reporting system, and the different types of force used. To read the whole thing, go here.
