The report paints a critical portrait of the training and comes at a time of increased scrutiny on law enforcement after high-profile civilian deaths while in police custody.
Kevin Walsh, the state’s acting comptroller, said his office turned up numerous examples of trainers promoting “wildly inappropriate” views and tactics and questioned the legality of some.
“The fact that the training undermined nearly a decade of police reforms — and New Jersey dollars paid for it — is outrageous,” Walsh said in a statement.
The report makes a number of recommendations, including calling on the Legislature to set up a licensing requirement for private police training programs. It urges the attorney general to oversee retraining of officials who attended the conference and encourages law enforcement agencies to seek a refund for the training.
Street Cop founder and CEO Dennis Benigno said in a statement that nothing in the report showed his company advocating for anything “inconsistent with quality policing.”
“Isolated excerpts taken out of context from a week-long training are not reflections of the overall quality of the education that Street Cop provides,” he said.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said his office is still reviewing the report but the training appeared to be “deeply troubling, potentially unconstitutional, and certainly unacceptable.”
“The report’s findings are disturbing and not consistent with the State’s commitment to fair, just, and safe policing. I have formally referred the report to the Division on Civil Rights to take any and all appropriate steps,” Platkin said.
Along with New Jersey, the comptroller’s office found at least 46 states spent funds on Street Cop training. Among the agencies the comptroller found participating in the 2021 seminar were the state police and 77 municipal agencies. More than $75,000 in public funds was spent, the comptroller said, but that didn’t include paid time off or paid training days.
