Asbury Park cops get prosecutor's office monitor after string of internal complaints

ASBURY PARK - Following a recent increase in Asbury Park police officers filing internal affairs complaints against each other, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has installed an on-site monitor at the department, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Friday.

The move follows years of discrimination lawsuits against the police department under Police Chief David Kelso.

Over the last 10 years, five suits against the city have been settled in which race discrimination claims, among others, were asserted, costing the city about $1.9 million totals in defense and settlement costs. There are lawsuits filed against the police department for racial discrimination currently in the discovery process, city officials say.

Ahmed Lawson, an African American police officer, filed a discrimination lawsuit in June of last year. He alleges systemic racism in the police department and claimed he was being blocked from a promotion.

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In his lawsuit, Lawson says a group known as "the Crab Club" exists within the department, crab being an acronym for "Crazy Racists Against Blacks." In addition, the lawsuit alleges use of the n-word by a captain, disparate treatment with respect to the city’s imposition of discipline on nonwhite officers compared with white officers, and the discriminatory assignment of training duties.

Lt. Kamil Warraich, the highest ranking officer of color in the Asbury Park Police Department and president of the Fraternal Order of Police #221, filed a lawsuit in 2020 that described years of mistreatment and a rigged internal affairs system within the Asbury Park Police Department.

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In August, someone put up a metal sign perceived as mocking Black Asbury Park police officers, affixing it to a tree where Black officers had been known to congregate. Fifty-nine days after officers of various ranks asked department leaders to take it down, the sign was removed only after an Asbury Park Press reporter inquired about why it was there in the first place.

The sign reads, “TREE OF KNOWLEDGE Where the disgruntled and misinformed can freely meet to spread lies, rumor, and conspiracy instead of doing the job they were hired to do…”

“Given the sheer volume of internal complaints, this office felt that it would be prudent to assist the department during this critical time," Santiago said in a prepared statement, "both to make certain that the officers in Asbury Park have the necessary time to devote to their primary function, ensuring the safety of the Asbury Park community, and also to investigate these complaints in a fair and consistent manner in order to determine the root of any problems that exist within one of the county’s biggest and busiest departments.

“To be clear, our goal is to help the Asbury Park Police Department in any way we can, but also to ensure that it functions in a professional and efficient manner,” he said.

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The monitor was selected from the prosecutor's office investigative ranks and will be present at random intervals within the department for the foreseeable future.“We are greatly limited in what we are able to say publicly with regard to specific matters involving internal affairs investigations, pending litigation, or a combination of both – limited both by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures (IAPP), and, as importantly, by our sworn duty to do everything within our power to avoid jeopardizing the integrity of such investigations and civil court proceedings,” Santiago said.

“What we can say with great emphasis is that this office takes any and every allegation reported to our internal affairs personnel with the utmost seriousness," he continued. "However, neither the mere presence of these complaints or the action of installing a monitor presupposes that we find such allegations to be truthful or credible. We have been, are now, and will remain steadfastly committed to investigating each and every allegation with due diligence.”

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The Prosecutor’s Office is charged with maintaining oversight over every municipal police department in Monmouth County. The increase in internal affairs complaints from members of the Asbury Park Police Department began in March, and has escalated more precipitously during recent months, the prosecutor's office said.

“When we arrive at such a time that we are able to say more, we will,” Santiago said. “But for now, we intend to let this monitor work unimpeded — and also strive to achieve the overarching mission of ensuring that the people of Asbury Park can have full confidence in the work of those who protect and serve them, which is something that can only be accomplished with the affirmative and collective cooperation from those within the department’s own ranks.”

“The Asbury Park Police Department has always had and will continue to maintain a strong working relationship with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office,” Asbury Park Police Chief David Kelso said in the press release. “In the interest of remaining transparent, the Asbury Park Police Department has and will continue to cooperate in this matter.”

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com @CharlesDayeAPP

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park cops get Monmouth prosecutor monitor over internal affairs