Police Accountability Project of the
New Jersey Libertarian Party
P.O. Box 5424
Somerset, NJ  08875

October 13, 2014

Grace H. Park, Acting Prosecutor
Union County Prosecutor’s Office
32 Rahway Avenue
Elizabeth, NJ 07202
via e-mail only to [email protected]

Dear Acting Prosecutor Park:

On October 1, 2014, the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Police Accountability Project filed an Internal Affairs complaint with the Roselle Park Police Department.  A copy of that complaint is on-line on our blog here.

Today, we received the following e-mail response to our complaint from Lieutenant Manuel Jimenez:

Re: Szabo v. RP settlement

The Roselle Park Police department is cognizant of the responsibilities it has in addressing any improper / inappropriate actions or procedures used by its police personnel.  The Roselle Park Police Department, and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office are aware of the incident involving Mr. Szabo and pursuant to the NJ Attorney General Guidelines on Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures, the Roselle Park Police Department cannot disclose any further information.

Thank You,

Manuel Jimenez, Lieutenant
Roselle Park Police Department
110 E. Westfield Ave.
Roselle Park, NJ 07204
908-245-2300 ext. 2601
908-245-2311

The thrust of Jimenez’s response is: “We know about the matter of which you complain.  We’re working on it and won’t tell you anything about it either now or in the future.”  We don’t believe that this response is consistent with the Attorney General’s guidelines that Jiminez cites in his e-mail.

According to Page 4 of the Guidelines, on-line here, one of the “policy requirements that the Attorney has determined are critical and must be implemented by every law enforcement agency” includes a requirement that “[e]ach agency must thoroughly and objectively investigate all allegations against its officers” and “must notify complainants of the outcome of their complaint.”

We believe that we are a bona fide complainant by virtue of the fact that we filed an Internal Affairs complaint.  We believe that our status as a complainant is not lessened or eliminated by the police department’s apparent, previous awareness of the matter that is the subject of our complaint.

Accordingly, we believe that the Roselle Park Police Department is obliged to follow the guidelines regarding our complaint.  This includes conducting a thorough investigation and notifying us of the results of that investigation.

Please advise us of what you are going to do to help us with this matter.

Very truly yours,

John Paff, Chairman
New Jersey Libertarian Party
Police Accountability Project
P.O. Box 5424
Somerset, NJ  08875-5424
Phone: 732-873-1251 – Fax: 908-325-0129
E-mail: [email protected]

cc. Hon. Joseph Accardi and Borough Council, via e-mail to the Clerk
Chief Paul Morrison, [email protected]
Lieutenant Manuel Jimenez, [email protected]

———————–
 Subsequent action:

08/15/17: Followed up with UCPO.  Click here.
08/16/17: At 1:30 p.m. I spoke with Lieutenant Dean Marcantonio who works at the Union County Prosecutor’s Internal Affairs Unit.  I explained that no response or acknowledgement had been received and he asked me to resent the original correspondence to his direct e-mail address, which I did.

Chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. Please send all comments to [email protected]