Tell New Jersey Lawmakers to Open Police Discipline Records

Recently, the New Jersey Attorney General released the disciplinary records of Neptune Police Officer Phillip Seidle, who killed his ex-wife Tamara Wilson-Seidle in 2015.

The nearly 700-page file contained over a dozen domestic violence incidents and numerous excessive force complaints. Why is this information just coming out now?

It’s because New Jersey’s law makes police misconduct records confidential. Had these files been public, it’s likely the Neptune Police Department would have taken these early warning signs seriously and might have prevented this tragedy. Inaccessibility of these records also increases the risk of wrongful conviction by allowing police who frame and brutalize people to continue abuses.

You can help end police misconduct secrecy by joining our coalition of over 100 organizations and individuals in urging New Jersey lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 2656. Sponsored by Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), this legislation would bring New Jersey in line with a majority of states that provides public access to officer misconduct complaints. 

Supporters include the Hotel Trades Council, ACLU-NJ, local Black Lives Matter and NAACP chapters, members of law enforcement, faith-based leaders and the national Innocence Project. New Jerseyans impacted by police violence and wrongful conviction also signed onto a letter calling on the legislature to act.

Use the form above or call 551-230-7366 and urge your lawmakers to bring transparency to New Jersey by passing S.2656.

Organizational coalition members:         

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey

Anti-Racist Alliance of New Jersey

Antiracism in Action

Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey

Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice

Bergen Grassroots Inc.

Black Community Watchline

Black in Bayonne

Black Lives Matter Morristown

Black Lives Matter Paterson

Camden County East NAACP

Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War

Central Jersey Progressive Democrats

Cherry Hill Women’s Center

Collingswood Democratic Committee

Dare Academy Camden

Edison 4 Racial Justice

Essex Watch

Ethnos New Brunswick

Faith in New Jersey

Fair and Welcoming Communities Coalition of Somerset County

Fifth and Sixth Ward Neighborhood Association (New Brunswick)

Gideon’s Promise

Hotel Trades Council

Hunterdon County Antiracism Coalition to the list.

Husky House

Indivisible NJ 5th District

Innocence Project

International Justice Project

Jersey City Together

Jersey Shore Wildlife Rescue

JOLT USA

Last Resort Wildlife Rescue

Latino Action Network

Latino Leadership Alliance of NJ

LatinoJustice PRLDEF

Law Enforcement Action Program (LEAP)

Lazos America Unida

Libertarian Party of New Jersey

Libertarians for Transparent Government

Metuchen Equity Commission

Middlesex Black-Jewish Coalition

NAACP of Metuchen & Edison

National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

National Association of Public Defense

National Coalition of Latino Officers

National Organization for Women of New Jersey

National Police Accountability Project

NeighborCorps Re-Entry Services

New Brunswick Area NAACP

New Brunswick Today

New Jersey Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement

New Jersey Clergy Coalition for Justice

New Jersey Coalition for Sexual Assault (NJCASA)

New Jersey Foundation for Open Government

New Jersey Institute for Social Justice

New Jersey Office of the Public Defender

New Labor

Newark Communities for Accountable Policing

Next Chance Rescue

NJ Animal Observer

NJ Prison Justice Watch

No More Pain Rescue

Not in Our Town Princeton

Our Revolution Middlesex County

Pax Christi NJ

Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization

Pitbulls and Addicts

Prison Policy Initiative

RCHP-Affordable Housing Corp

Reformers: Advocates for Animal Shelter Change in NJ

Salvation and Social Justice

South Jersey Progressive Democrats

Speak Up NJ

STAND Central New Jersey

The Reformed Church of Highland Park

Transformative Justice Initiative

Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ

Ville Black Lives Matter

Volunteer Lawyers for Justice

Wind of the Spirit

Women for Progress

Women Who Never Give Up

Individual members:

Albert Pelham, President of the Montclair Branch of the NAACP

Barry Scheck, Co-founder of the Innocence Project

Byron Halsey, NJ Exoneree

Charlie Kratovil

Christopher Hedges, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist

CJ Griffin, Esq. Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden

D. Michael Risinger, John J. Gibbons Professor of Law Emeritus, Seton Hall University School of Law

Deborah Smith Gregory, President Newark, NJ NAACP

Dr. Yusef Salaam, Member of the Exonerated 5

Edward Barocas, former Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey

Gavin Rozzi, OPRAmachine

James Louis, NJ Exoneree

Jeffery Robinson, ACLU Deputy Legal Director and Director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality

Joe Hayden, Esq.

Joe Mazraani, Esq., Mazraani & Ligouri, L.L.P.

John Paff

Justice Gary S. Stein (Ret.)

Kevin Baker, NJ Exoneree

Lawrence S. Lustberg, Director, John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law

Lesley C. Risinger, Esq.

Maurice Gordon Sr., Father of Maurice Gordon Jr.

Paul Casteleiro. Esq., Legal Director, Centurion Ministries

Professor Jessica S. Henry, Montclair State University

Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, Bnai Keshet, Montclair, NJ

Racquel Barrett, Mother of Maurice Gordon Jr.

Raymond M. Brown, Esq.

Reverend Derinzer Johnson, St. Stephen A.M.E. Zion Church

Reverend Doctor Willard W.C. Ashley

Reverend Dr. Charles Boyer, Bethel AME Church, Woodbury, NJ

Reverend Karen G Johnston, Unitarian Universalist Minister

Richard Coughlin, Federal Public Defender District of New Jersey

Rick Robinson, Chairman NJSC NAACP/Newark, NJ NAACP Criminal Justice Committee

Rodney Roberts, NJ Exoneree

Sean Washington, NJ Exoneree

William O. Wagstaff III, Esq., Attorney for The Gordon Family

Zayid Muhammad, Activist Poet Newark, NJ

We've helped free more than 250 innocent people from prison. Support our work to strengthen and advance the innocence movement.