One of the first things New Jersey’s next governor, Mikie Sherrill, must contend with as she takes office next month is an active investigation into potential misconduct within the state’s largest police force that has frayed relationships among key law enforcement officials.
For more than a year, top brass at the New Jersey State Police have been the focus of scrutiny over a drastic statewide reduction in tickets issued for traffic safety violations like speeding, cellphone usage and drunken driving. The ticketing downturn began soon after a report critical of the State Police showed racial disparities in traffic enforcement, and it coincided with an almost immediate uptick in serious motor vehicle crashes, according to records obtained by The New York Times.
On Monday, Col. Patrick J. Callahan, who has led the State Police since 2017, announced he would step down on Dec. 31, acknowledging in an email to his staff that Ms. Sherrill’s team had told him that he would not be rehired by her administration.
“To each and every Jersey trooper,” he wrote, “stay safe, stand tall and God bless you all.”
Replacing Colonel Callahan, whose tenure as State Police superintendent has been marked by tumult, and smoothing relationships within the troubled 3,280-member force will provide an early test for Ms. Sherrill.
State Police leaders have faced a spate of lawsuits from nearly two dozen Black, Latino, female and gay troopers, who have laid out claims of systemic employment discrimination. A review of the use of police “courtesy cards” found that troopers gave preferential treatment to drivers with law enforcement connections. Last year, the state attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, seized control of the agency’s human resources department after finding that disciplinary investigations had been “weaponized” against some troopers.
And grand jurors in Trenton have been hearing testimony for months as part of the inquiry into the enforcement slowdown, according to court documents and people familiar with the proceedings. The investigation could result in criminal charges against State Police commanders and rank-and-file officers, just as Ms. Sherrill is taking over.
Whomever Ms. Sherrill taps as the force’s superintendent and as attorney general, a position responsible for overseeing all law enforcement agencies in New Jersey, would have to reckon almost immediately with the investigation and its fallout.
The enforcement slowdown involved troopers assigned to patrol New Jersey’s busiest highways and its remote rural roads and waterways. It lasted for more than eight months, records show, from July 2023 through March 2024. Summonses plummeted by 61 percent, compared with the same period the year before. And as the slowdown wore on, traffic fatalities began to increase — even as roadway deaths were going down in most other states, after a pandemic-related spike.
Records show that Mr. Platkin’s office had begun investigating the downturn in citations by March 2024.
Then, last December, he enlisted an outside lawyer, Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, to pursue the inquiry after the scope and duration of the slowdown grew clearer.
How the enforcement slowdown was able to continue for eight months, through the year’s busiest travel periods, and how State Police commanders responded, is at the crux of the criminal inquiry, according to court filings and documents obtained by The Times. Earlier this year, police union leaders unsuccessfully attempted to quash subpoenas for material that included trooper email and cellphone records; investigators have since conducted interviews with officers, according to law enforcement officials and court records.
In a legal filing, lawyers for a union that represents State Police supervisors said that the release of the traffic-stop report had “put every state trooper on notice that any motor vehicle stop was a potentially unconstitutional act.” This, the lawyers said, justified steps taken by union leaders to warn troopers about the “perils of motor vehicle stops.”
A spokesman for Colonel Callahan, a close ally of the outgoing governor, Philip D. Murphy, has said that the superintendent “did not endorse any decrease in traffic enforcement.”
But the inquiry involved much of Colonel Callahan’s last year leading the department.
It has also shaped Mr. Platkin’s relationship with the police and many members of the State Legislature, particularly those who are aligned with George E. Norcross III, a Democratic power broker charged with racketeering by the attorney general’s office. A judge dismissed the indictment against Mr. Norcross and several allies, but Mr. Platkin has appealed the ruling.
In the meantime, State Senator James Beach, a lawmaker close to Mr. Norcross, proposed a bill to remove the State Police from the control of the attorney general, a step that would allow the agency to police itself and has been roundly panned by leading civil rights organizations.
Last week, Mr. Platkin tangled publicly with Mr. Beach during a contentious hearing on unrelated legislation and then castigated him in a letter released on Monday.
Only the governor has the power to remove a State Police superintendent.
Mr. Murphy has refused repeated calls by the state branch of the N.A.A.C.P. to replace Colonel Callahan and his top deputy, Lt. Col. Sean Kilcomons, for what its leaders have called a pattern of racial bias within the department. On Monday, the governor again praised Colonel Callahan, calling him a “trusted colleague” and an “indispensable member of my cabinet.”
Mr. Murphy has said little publicly about the State Police slowdown; a spokesman has said the governor considered public safety “an issue of utmost seriousness.”
Ms. Sherrill, a Democrat elected last month by a 14-point margin, has proceeded methodically as she prepares to take over as governor, making her decision to notify Colonel Callahan last week that she intends to replace him notable.
Ms. Sherrill’s spokesman declined to comment. A spokesman for Colonel Callahan did not reply to requests for comment.
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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