Paterson will audit its police department in hopes of rebuilding the public’s trust after eight officers were arrested by the FBI for charges that included shaking down motorists and beating up a man handcuffed to a hospital bed.
During a public announcement Monday, Mayor Andre Sayegh, newly-appointed Police Chief Ibrahim “Mike” Baycora and other city officials announced the city’s hired three auditors from Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). The organization is comprised of police officials, primarily from the largest metropolitan departments in the country.
From March 1 to November 1, the auditors will comb through every aspect of the police department, by conducting facility tours, interviewing every department employee and assessing programs and procedures the department uses, said Sayegh. The contract will cost approximately $160,000, he said.
“To say that 2019 was a difficult year for the Paterson Police Department would be an understatement,” said Sayegh. “So we’re interested in improvement and we think this audit will help us make progress as far as policing is concerned.”
To maintain independence, the audit will be run through the city’s office of the business administrator, Sayegh said.
The three auditors all come from storied law enforcement careers and include Charles Wexler, the executive director of PERF; Tom Wilson, the organization’s director of the organization’s center for applied research and management; and Charles Ramsey, former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department and former chief of the Washington D.C. police force.
During his administration, President Barack Obama also tapped Ramsey to co-head the president’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Improvements will be suggested to police administration on a rolling basis, so changes can be implemented ahead of the audit’s final report. Improvements that are quicker and either free or more affordable will be implemented as they’re suggested, Sayegh said.
The audit comes following an FBI probe that has swept up eight officers, several of whom are now in prison, and severely damaged the police department’s reputation with the public.
City and police officials, including Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale, hope that the “top-to-bottom” audit will repair trust in the department
“They’re [PERF] an organization that has done over hundreds of departments where they review them,” Speziale said. “Where they’re looking at your strengths and building you a roadmap on some of the successes and looking at ways to become better.”
The police department would help auditors in any way it can, said Baycora, who was appointed less than a week ago. The audit would help analyze and identify any issues that the department itself might be missing, he said.
“It’s great to have a fresh set of eyes examining the police department,” he said. “It’s like if you’re home and you’ve got a broken floor tile, you’re looking at it once, twice and afterwards you don’t even notice it. Maybe we’re doing stuff we don’t even notice."
If the audit takes longer than the scheduled November end-time, the timeline will likely be extended, Sayegh said. While the audit will not specifically focus on the eight officers arrested in the probe, it will hopefully prevent further corruption in the department’s ranks.
“We’re going to identify techniques that we’re not using,” said Sayegh. “And technology that we should be using. If there are any other bad apples, that’ll help weed them out, too.”
Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon.
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