Statement of Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin on the Court Decision Regarding the Supersession of the Paterson Police Department

"We are deeply disappointed with today’s ruling — which comes nearly two years after the State took over the Paterson Police Department, having now spent millions of dollars to improve conditions in the City — and will be appealing immediately to the New Jersey Supreme Court. For decades, supersession has allowed both Attorneys General and County Prosecutors to directly manage law enforcement agencies when the circumstances call for it — as they did in Paterson when our office stepped in following a fundamental breakdown of community trust. Since then, murders, shootings, sexual assaults, robberies, and other violent crime in Paterson have all plummeted, while officer morale and community trust have dramatically improved. We are enormously proud of the extraordinary progress the Paterson Police Department has made and we remain deeply committed to Paterson and to the crucial work of making the City safer for all its people, including as this wrongful decision is appealed. The decision does not take effect immediately, and we will be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to protect all the progress we have made to date."