Prosecutor looks into alleged overtime padding by NJ Transit police
An investigation into whether some NJ Transit police officers and supervisors falsified reports and padded overtime is being conducted by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
The prosecutor's professional standards bureau is conducting the probe, said spokeswoman Carmen Martin. She did not provide more detail.
NorthJersey.com exclusively reported in August that NJ Transit's internal affairs department was investigating a number of patrolmen, sergeants and lieutenants from the Newark Penn division for allegedly no-show court appearances and falsifying police reports in order to gain more overtime pay.
The alleged scheme largely took place in 2021, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation who works at NJ Transit's Police Department and spoke to NorthJersey.com last summer.The person's name was withheld because they were not authorized to speak to the media about the investigation.
In January, NorthJersey.com requested the summary and findings report from the internal affairs investigation, which can be made public in certain circumstances thanks to a 2022 directive authored by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin
Antoinette Lejano, of NJ Transit's Open Public Records unit, denied the request on March 4, saying "there is no applicable law or court order mandating release of the requested records, nor has the County Prosecutor or Attorney General directed release of the requested records."
When asked if the Attorney General's office or Essex County Prosecutor's Office would direct the release of the records, both responded that they do not get involved in the outcome of Open Public Records Act requests at an outside agency. However, the request was not filed under OPRA, but rather the common law right of access.
On Friday, NorthJersey.com's parent company, Gannett, sued NJ Transit for the records.
Stuart Alterman, an attorney for the NJ Transit Policemen's Benevolent Association, said the allegations are "categorically denied." Alterman said there are some "matters that are outstanding," but did not know about the Essex County investigation.
"These officers have already voluntarily cooperated with transit authorities and provided statements," Alterman said. "I can tell you with extreme certainty there were no violations of policy, procedure or any laws conducted by any of the police officers that are involved in this case."
Jim Smith, an NJ Transit spokesman, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Alleged overtime padding by NJ Transit police investigated
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Protesters rally outside Delaney Hall for Palestinian activist from Paterson, others
Supporters of Palestinian activist and Paterson resident Leqaa Kordia joined with immigrant advocates at a solidarity rally outside Delaney Hall in Newark on June 5. On a humid morning outside the ICE detention center, the small group of protesters brought attention to Kordia's situation as well as the plight of detainees held in Delaney Hall. Kordia is currently being held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas. In April 2024, Kordia took part in a demonstration against Israel's military excursion into Gaza outside the gates of Columbia University in New York City. She was arrested after that demonstration, but the charges against her were dropped. However, as reported, she was the target of a Homeland Security Department investigation and was arrested by DHS in March. On the same day as the rally for her outside Delaney Hall, Kordia was scheduled to appear in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Texas to argue that the detention violated her rights and seek her release. Banan Abdelrahman, a campaign coordinator with the American Service Committee's New Jersey Immigrant Rights Program, read out comments in Arabic and English that she had received from Kordia on the morning of the rally to share with the protesters. 'I write with full certainty that we will all be free from this cruel justice and I believe with all my heart that I will soon meet you as a free woman,' Abdelrahman read from Kordia. Abdelrahman also said Delaney Hall is 'expanding the reach of the terror' in immigrant communities in New Jersey. She pointed out that while the rally was happening, an ambulance entering Delaney Hall was not allowed to enter for 10 minutes, which she said is 'indicative of a system that treats people as inhuman.' Ana Paola Pazmino, executive director of the immigrant rights group Resistencia En Accion, said the rally was important to the people being held inside Delaney Hall as well as their loved ones who are having a hard time getting into the facility to visit those detained. She encouraged people to come out to any protest or gathering outside Delaney Hall to get it closed. 'Make that effort to come out here, make that effort to be part of anything that can dismantle this system,' Pazmino said. Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. Email: kaulessar@ Twitter/X: @ricardokaul This article originally appeared on Protest for Palestinian activist outside ICE center in Newark
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
What's next for Edan Alexander? American freed, but trauma lingers for Hamas hostages
The world cheered as the last living American hostage under Hamas control was reunited with his family. In an exuberant scene caught on video after his May 12 release, Edan Alexander threw his arms around his parents and shrieked with joy when he spied his siblings. Later, he posted on Instagram wearing shades and holding a bottle of Corona. But after the initial euphoria, the journey is not always easy for freed hostages. Israeli doctors who have worked with the dozens of captives released in recent months told part of the USA TODAY Network, that many face a complex rehabilitation. It's still too early to know the full extent of the suffering that Alexander, 21, endured during his nearly 600 days in captivity in Gaza. In an interview published May 14, his father, Adi Alexander, told The New York Times that his son, an Israeli soldier, was held with a bag over his head at times and handcuffed, beaten and interrogated about his military service. Yael Alexander, Edan's mother, said at a news conference that her son was plagued by hunger, thirst and unsanitary conditions during his time in Gaza, not to mention constant anxiety about the war raging around him. With bombs and military strikes shaking the tunnels where he was kept, he feared that any moment could be his last, his mother said. Alexander, who volunteered for the Israel Defense Forces after graduating from Tenafly High School in suburban New Jersey in 2022, was guarding an outpost near Israel's southern border during Hamas' 2023 terror attack, in which 1,200 people died and 251 hostages were taken. The attack triggered a war that has also claimed 58,000 lives in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Israel says about 20 hostages are still believed to be alive in Gaza, along with the remains of 37 others. Four of the dead are Americans. Roughly 147 have returned home in ceasefire deals or through rescue operations. Doctors who have treated them say freed captives have expressed relief and joy to be home – but also a difficulty resuming their old lives. Many suffer from emotional and physical scars, including anxiety, flashbacks and PTSD. Some feel survivor's guilt because there are still hostages remaining in Gaza, said Irwin Mansdorf, a clinical psychologist and senior fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. That emotional weight can complicate the rehabilitation process, because many returnees feel they can't avail themselves of their new lives while hostages are still suffering, said Mansdorf, who also served in the emergency division of the IDF Homefront Command. Some are still held captive by the horrors they experienced in the underground tunnels where they were held for months. "The hostages went through severe physical and emotional abuse, including maltreatment, lack of food or medical treatment, and physical interrogations, regardless of whether they were civilians or military," said professor Asher Ben-Arieh, dean of the School of Social Work and Social Welfare at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "Many were subjected to sexual abuse as well." Ben-Arieh, who has met with prisoners of war, Holocaust survivors and hostages, said he's optimistic about the chances for rehabilitation for the returnees. He recalls a former POW telling him he "had a good life but always had the scars. I believe this can be true for the hostages: They can have a good life but will have to live with the scars." The time it could take to heal physically and emotionally from such an ordeal depends on a variety of factors, including a victim's resilience, their age and their experience during captivity, said Ben-Arieh, who also directed the Haruv Institute in Jerusalem, which developed protocols for reintegrating Oct. 7 hostages. Dr. Noya Shilo, head of the Returned Hostages Clinic at Sheba Medical Center in Israel, which has treated 46 released captives, said that in many cases, recovery is a lifelong journey. 'We are all mourners': NY writer's Oct. 7 book finds common ground in victims' stories That's especially true given the shock of Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen overran villages and a music festival, shattering Israeli civilians' sense of security. "Very early on, we understood that this was like nothing else ever done before,' Shilo said. Without any precedent or medical literature to rely on, her team had to think outside of the box to create a new clinical discipline. 'Civilians had been taken hostage from their own homes and saw their world destroyed," she said. "This wasn't just going to take a few days at the hospital." Recoveries involved working with a team of experts in social work, psychology, yoga therapy, spirituality and alternative medicine, she said. "This kind of trauma affects the body and mind as well as the spirit," Shilo said. Medical experts learned that the trauma affected the mental health of everyone in the hostage's social and familial circle. "It was like their entire family was also taken hostage," she said. "We have to also treat the family members or loved ones of those captured or killed." The therapeutic community took lessons from Holocaust survivors, who were often haunted their entire lives by the atrocities they experienced. Despite the PTSD, she said, many of them 'managed to transform that into growth and led productive lives. We want to make this possibility present for the hostages.' But Holocaust survivors – many of whom declined to speak about their experience until old age – didn't have to grapple with the pressures of social media or the paparazzi. "The hostages were abducted as anonymous individuals, and now they are famous for the worst thing that happened to them and to Israel," Shilo said. "This is something that requires a lot of process." Ayelet Noam-Rosenthal, a lecturer in the psychology department of Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College and one of the writers of the Haruv guidelines for the reintegration of child hostages, noted that the "emotional recovery for many of the returning hostages is deeply tied to the remaining hostages in Gaza." "Many of those who returned found themselves at the center of the public campaign to bring the others home and, as a result, have not been able to focus on their own healing process," she said. One of the most important aspects of supporting the returning hostages is to help them regain a sense of control, Noam-Rosenthal advised. "Restoring agency is key to healing, and the role of the surrounding environment is to provide quiet support, respect boundaries and follow the returnee's lead," she said. The protocol also recommends asking the returnee's permission before giving a hug or turning on a light, and offering choices of what to eat. After Edan Alexander's release, it appeared that the Alexanders were heeding the words of the experts. They told a reporter at the Tel Aviv hospital where their son was being monitored that it was a blessing just to sit next to him and relax together. "We are chilling and trying to listen," Adi Alexander said. Yael Alexander added, "He needs time. ... We will give him whatever he needs." This article originally appeared on Hamas hostage, American Edan Alexander, released; trauma lingers
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
KU professor joins lawsuit to pressure New Jersey to allow DNA testing of Lindbergh evidence
Jonathan Hagel, an assistant professor of history at the University of Kansas, is among plaintiffs in a New Jersey lawsuit filed to compel opening of a documentary archives tied to the kidnapping and murder of aviator Charles Lindburgh's son. Hagel and other researchers seek permission to expose certain documents to modern DNA testing. (Submitted) TOPEKA — An assistant professor at the University of Kansas is a plaintiff in a New Jersey lawsuit seeking modern DNA testing of state archive materials tied to the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of trans-Atlantic aviator Charles Lindbergh. The 200-page Mercer County Superior Court suit was filed amid controversy about decisions by New Jersey State Police to block access to the case archive. The plaintiffs — KU historian Jonathan Hagel, author Catherine Read and retired teacher Michele Downie — said their Open Public Records Act request related the 1932 kidnapping was rejected. Hagel, a New Jersey native who has studied the Lindbergh case, said DNA analysis of ransom notes or envelopes could contribute to understanding whether Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was executed in 1936 after convicted of first-degree murder, acted alone in the high-profile crime. It is among questions that have riveted scholars and investigators since Hauptmann's trial. 'There were more than a dozen ransom letters overall, and they were sent through the post,' said Hagel, a New Jersey native who has studied the Lindbergh case. 'If Hauptmann's DNA is on it, then he definitely is not innocent of being involved. But, if there is other DNA, that would confirm other people's involvement.' Twenty-month-old Charles Lindbergh Jr. was abducted from the family estate near Hopewell, New Jersey. The family was contacted through ransom notes and parcels, and a demand for $50,000 was paid. The toddler's remains were subsequently discovered adjacent to a roadside several miles from the Lindbergh home. 'There are those who think we're likely to find Charles Lindbergh's DNA on the materials,' Hagel said. 'They believe there was some kind of accident, and he orchestrated this as a way to deflect responsibility.' At least one previous lawsuit unsuccessfully sought to compel New Jersey to allow DNA testing of documents associated with the case. A state appellate court said New Jersey law didn't guarantee a public right to physically examine archive materials. In 2023, the State Police said access was restricted to preserve contents of case files. 'My take is that states or police organizations, like any bureaucracy, just like to protect their stuff,' Hagel said. 'There are others who think the state police are embarrassed they may have botched it quite badly and been involved in a railroading.'
