Official Site of The State of New Jersey

TRENTON—A report finds that 377 New Jersey police departments and law enforcement agencies together paid more than $1 million for private police training hosted by Street Cop Training, a company previously found to have taught discriminatory and likely unconstitutional tactics, according to a supplemental report by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC).

A December 2023 report by OSC’s Police Accountability Project revealed that Street Cop Training’s 2021 training conference, attended by nearly 1,000 officers, many from New Jersey, taught dangerous, improper, and likely illegal policing tactics. As a result, the New Jersey Attorney General required that all New Jersey attendees be retrained and said New Jersey officers should not attend any Street Cop Training courses and events in the future.

OSC’s new, supplemental report was based on a review of thousands of documents, including many produced by Street Cop after protracted litigation. OSC found that police departments from all 21 New Jersey counties, as well as from public universities, and state-wide, county, and interstate agencies, spent more than $1 million in public funds on Street Cop Training courses and events from December 1, 2019 through March 13, 2023. Records revealed that at least 20 New Jersey officers apparently disregarded the Attorney General’s instruction and registered for the 2024 Street Cop Conference in Florida. (OSC has made referrals to the Attorney General.)

Overall, 2,721 government entities from 49 states, including New Jersey, have paid for Street Cop Training courses and events, OSC found. OSC has published the list of entities as a public referral.

“Our original report exposed the dangerous gap in regulation and oversight of private, post-academy police training in New Jersey. This supplemental report shows the problem is bigger than we previously reported, and it has not gone away,” said Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. “When there are hundreds of law enforcement agencies spending public funds on clearly subpar training, and some are even repeat customers, the risks to public safety are high.”

“It is critical that the training our law enforcement officers receive corresponds to the directives, policies, and best practices that have been implemented. I commend the Office of the State Comptroller and Acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh for investigating and bringing to light the use of public funds on trainings that endorse unconstitutional policing tactics, glorification of violence, and denigration of women and people of color,” said Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. “In response to the original report by the Office of the State Comptroller, I mandated all law enforcement personnel who attended Street Cop Training to receive supplemental instruction. My office also ordered that LPS not fund any attendance at Street Cop Training and encouraged all local law enforcement to cease participation as well. In addition, I also directed the Division on Civil Rights (DCR) to review the report for any potential civil rights violations. The updated information in the recent OSC report will be referred to DCR for additional consideration and to the employing agencies to implement any additional retraining.”

Currently, the State of New Jersey relies on officers to report when private police training is improper, but OSC’s supplemental report shows this strategy is ineffective. Among the findings:

• At least 32 New Jersey police departments and agencies were repeat customers spending funds on Street Cop Training even after officers attended the 2021 Conference, where the presentations were riddled with discriminatory, harassing, and lewd remarks, among other problematic content. (Street Cop Training’s CEO has previously said that the 2021 conference was “standard fare” for the company.)
• Internal company records indicated that Street Cop was willing to help officers hide their attendance at courses/events or their involvement as instructors. In one instance, an active New Jersey State Police trooper requested to continue to sell his on-demand courses without it being advertised on the company website to “avoid any scrutiny” from New Jersey.
• Internal records show multiple police departments and agencies, including an agency that operates in New Jersey, requested case law or other materials from Street Cop to help defend officers from lawsuits, OSC found.

OSC reviewed other Street Cop training materials and found, as Street Cop had previously asserted, they were similar to the 2021 conference’s teachings. As a result, OSC reiterated the recommendations made in its 2023 report and added that all officers who attended any Street Cop Training course or event should be retrained.

Read the supplemental report.

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To report government fraud, waste, mismanagement, or corruption, file a complaint with OSC or call 1-855-OSC-TIPS.