In a shocking development, the Oakland town council has dismissed two police officers for “misconduct and conduct unbecoming” an officer as initially reported in The Bergen Record.
The seriousness of police work in NJ has been too graphically exemplified as towns local to Oakland see police officers facing life threatening situations such as those in Lakewood and most recently in Paramus. A drop in crime does not equate with a drop in danger, and suburban police officers are facing greater dangers than in previous generations.
Oakland has a larger police force than surrounding towns, and the dismissal of the two officers does not present any immediate threat to safety in the community. Still, the dismissals are a shock to a community where police, firefighters, and EMTs are neighborhood fixtures.
Facts will be sparse as the dismissal will most likely work its way through the court system should the police officers file appeals. This would be standard operating procedure if the charges against the officers were questionable as was a recent case concerning a Princeton police officer. In this recent court decision, the town’s dismissal was overturned at a cost of $500,000 to the town. Other recent incidents of police misconduct in New Jersey range from performing private security work while on duty to instances of domestic abuse.