Allegation category

Excessive Force

Violence / criminal tier, as grouped by this site

New Jersey law enforcement agencies recorded 5,059 allegations in this category between 2021 and 2025, the third-most most reported of the 31 categories and 6.3% of all allegations statewide.

These are complaints, not findings. A complaint is recorded when somebody makes it, whether or not an investigation later sustained it, so nothing on this page establishes that any officer did anything.

Allegations

5,059

2021 to 2025

Agencies reporting

344

At least one in the period

Reported in 2025

903

1,028 in 2021

By year

Excessive Force allegations reported, 2021 to 2025
2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
1,028	1,101	1,079	948	903

Year-to-year movement reflects both complaint volume and reporting practice. The number of agencies filing a report changes each year, and a category can grow simply because more departments began classifying complaints into it.

Where it is reported most

Highest raw counts. Large departments appear here largely because they are large.

Agencies reporting the most Excessive Force allegations
Agency	County	Allegations	Share of its own
Department Of Corrections	State	413	4.8%
Newark Police Department	Essex	387	7.0%
Paterson Police Department	Passaic	287	21.8%
New Jersey State Police	State	217	5.0%
Camden County Corrections	Camden	214	26.9%
Jersey City Police Department	Hudson	214	9.3%
Camden Police Department	Camden	150	2.2%
New Jersey Transit Police	State	103	11.7%
Morris County Corrections	Morris	94	57.3%
Youth Justice Commission	State	82	8.1%
Hudson County Corrections	Hudson	67	17.1%
Elizabeth Police Department	Union	63	7.9%
Bergen County Sheriff's Department	Bergen	61	7.0%
East Orange Police Department	Essex	61	3.2%
Trenton Police Department	Mercer	61	5.7%
Middlesex County Corrections	Middlesex	57	24.1%
Asbury Park Police Department	Monmouth	53	13.4%
Atlantic City Police Department	Atlantic	48	5.1%
Rahway Police Department	Union	47	11.6%
Somerset County Corrections	Somerset	46	25.6%
Irvington Police Department	Essex	44	3.7%
New Brunswick Police Department	Middlesex	44	16.2%
Gloucester Township Police Department	Camden	42	8.4%
Pennsauken Township Police Department	Camden	42	10.5%
Franklin Township Police Department	Somerset	41	15.4%

AnalysisThis site's calculation: each agency's count in this category divided by its own total allegations. Agencies reporting fewer than 50 allegations overall are excluded, because a handful of complaints produces a meaningless percentage.

A high share means this category is unusually prominent in what that agency records. It can reflect what happens there, or how that agency classifies complaints.

Agencies where Excessive Force is the largest share of allegations
Agency	Share	This category	All allegations
Morris County Corrections	57.3%	94	164
Maple Shade Police Department	29.7%	19	64
Camden County Corrections	26.9%	214	797
Washington Township Police Department	26.4%	14	53
Paramus Police Department	26.2%	22	84
Somerset County Corrections	25.6%	46	180
Pleasantville Police Department	24.3%	35	144
Middlesex County Corrections	24.1%	57	237
Paterson Police Department	21.8%	287	1,317
East Greenwich Township Police Department	21.3%	13	61
Seaside Heights Police Department	20.8%	15	72
West Windsor Township Police Department	20.8%	11	53
South River Police Department	20.7%	18	87
Somerset County Prosecutor's Office	19.3%	11	57
Egg Harbor Township Police Department	18.4%	16	87

By county

Excessive Force allegations by county
County	Allegations
Essex	660
Camden	647
Hudson	395
Passaic	384
Middlesex	322
Bergen	253
Union	222
Monmouth	205
Morris	175
Somerset	145
Atlantic	139
Mercer	132
Ocean	107
Gloucester	103
Burlington	89
Cumberland	78
Cape May	61
Sussex	27
Salem	24
Hunterdon	23
Warren	10

By year

Where it is reported most

Where it makes up the largest share

By county

Other categories