Department profile · Cape May County

Cape May County Sheriff's Office

Reported as: Cape May Co Sheriffs OfficeCounty sheriff

Jurisdiction context

Civil service jurisdiction

Discipline at this department is governed by the Title 4A civil service framework, matched to Cape May County on the New Jersey Civil Service Commission roster.

Read how the process works or the Title 4A glossary. Browse NJCSNavigator’s civil service jurisdiction directory for the full local-jurisdiction roster.

Reflects the NJCSC Appendix A roster as of 2026-07-04. Context only, not legal advice.

Radio encryption

Cape May County Sheriff's Office encrypts its radio communications (P25 AES-256, part of its operations (Only County Prosecutor 2 is encrypted)), according to PoliceRadioEncryption.com, as of 2026-03-06 (verified).

AnalysisThis site treats radio encryption as a meaningful transparency signal. When a department closes its radio traffic to the public, the public loses a real-time window into how it operates. That is context for reading the discipline and internal affairs records on this page, not a figure drawn from them.

In brief

The Cape May County Sheriff's Office reported 31 internal affairs investigations in 2025 and 22 officers named in those cases, after logging just 1 in 2024. Its rate of 140.9 per 100 officers ran above the 115.2 median for sheriff agencies. The comparison cuts two ways, since a higher rate can reflect more misconduct or a fuller accounting of complaints. Of the 31 investigations detailed for 2025, 23 reported sustained complaints. Neglect of Duty led at 10, followed by Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency at 8 and Attendance Issues at 6.

Twenty-one major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, with records in every year from 2020 through 2025, including two terminations. The office received an F on the report card, at the 93rd percentile among 21 peers in the group of all sheriff agencies, a high-confidence grade.

Written by this site strictly from the figures on this page; every number is cited below.

Officers named in IA cases, 2025

22^{^[1]}

Distinct officers in that year's IA investigations, not total staffing

IA investigations, 2025

31^{^[1]}

Incidents, 2025

26^{^[1]}

Major discipline records

All years, 2020-2025

Staffing

Staffing data not available. The FBI's national staffing census (LEE) does not separately track county corrections facilities, sheriff's offices, or other county agencies in New Jersey -- only a single statewide Department of Corrections figure exists in that data. See the methodology for what FBI staffing data does and does not cover.

Military surplus equipment (1033 program)

No 1033 transfers recorded. No surplus-equipment transfers appear for this agency under a high-confidence name match in the Defense Logistics Agency's file as of 2026-06-30. That can mean the agency received nothing through the program, or that a recipient name in the federal file did not confidently match this department. See the methodology for how the match is made, or the statewide 1033 overview for how the program spreads across New Jersey.

Internal affairs investigations by year

counts

Internal affairs investigations reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Category	counts
2021	25
2022	46
2023	31
2024	1
2025	31

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Incidents

26 in 2025

Internal affairs incidents reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	counts
2021	20
2022	31
2023	26
2024	1
2025	26

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Officers on IA rows

31 in 2025

Officers listed on the officer-level internal affairs rows for Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	counts
2021	not reported
2022	not reported
2023	not reported
2024	1
2025	31

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Analysis

Computed by this site from the two figures the agency reports each year. Not a misconduct rate: it describes how an agency resolved what it investigated.

share of total · 5 reported years

Share of internal affairs investigations sustained by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	share of total
2021	0
2022	73.913
2023	74.194
2024	100
2025	74.194

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Statewide, 19.5 percent of investigations reported a sustained complaint in 2025. How dispositions break down statewide.

Complaint mix, 2025

Most serious allegation per investigation, as categorized by the reporting agency. Officer-level rows list 31 officers involved.

Most serious allegation

Most serious allegations reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, 2025
Neglect of Duty	10
Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency	8
Attendance Issues	6
Demeanor	2
Improper Arrest	2
Other Departmental Rule Violation	2
Insubordination/Disobeying An Order	1

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AdministrativeConduct / dutyRights / integrityViolence / criminal

Statewide category pages: Neglect of Duty · Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency · Attendance Issues · Demeanor · Improper Arrest · Other Departmental Rule Violation · Insubordination/Disobeying An Order

Internal disposition

Internal dispositions reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, 2025
Sustained	23
Administratively Closed	3
Exonerated	3
Unfounded	2

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Allegations by year, 2021 to 2025

AnalysisRanked and folded by this site. The counts inside each panel are as reported.

Other Departmental Rule Violation

44 of 134

Other Departmental Rule Violation allegations reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	counts
2021	24
2022	14
2023	4
2024	0
2025	2

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Neglect of Duty

29 of 134

Neglect of Duty allegations reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	counts
2021	0
2022	12
2023	7
2024	0
2025	10

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Attendance Issues

26 of 134

Attendance Issues allegations reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	counts
2021	0
2022	10
2023	10
2024	0
2025	6

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Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency

22 of 134

Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency allegations reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	counts
2021	0
2022	9
2023	4
2024	1
2025	8

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Other (7 categories)

13 of 134

Other (7 categories) allegations reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, by year
Year	counts
2021	1
2022	1
2023	6
2024	0
2025	5

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Against peers, 2025

How this grade was built →

Internal affairs investigations per 100 IA-investigated officers, 2025 (investigations per 100 IA-investigated officers)
Cape May County Sheriff's Office	140.9
County median, county sheriff (1)	140.9
NJ median, county sheriff (20)	115.2

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Investigations per 100 officers named in that year's IA investigations (the Attorney General's own "Number of Officers" field, a distinct-officer count drawn from the IA case data itself, not a department headcount). A higher number is ambiguous on its own: it can reflect more misconduct, or a stronger internal reporting culture. Medians are computed within the same agency type only.

Report card

Grade F: Highest fifth of peers

On reported IA volume and discipline severity; see methodology

Combined standing: 93rd percentile of 21 peers
Confidence: High confidence

Where this agency falls among its peers

The actual spread of discipline severity across Cape May County Sheriff's Office's real peer group, not an assumed bell curve. If the group is skewed, it is shown skewed.

Peer group: County sheriff, all sheriff agencies (n=21)

Discipline severity: County sheriff, all sheriff agencies
Range	Agencies
0–50	6
50–100	8
100–150	6
150–200	0
200–250	1

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Cape May County Sheriff's Office: 242.424 severity-weighted discipline per 100 IA-investigated officers: 98th percentile among County sheriff, all sheriff agencies (n=21).

How the grade is built

Three components, each a percentile within the peer group. The combined standing is their weighted mean, re-ranked among peers; the grade is the fifth of the peer group it lands in.

IA volumeweight 40%

79th percentileof 21 peers

128.4 investigations per 100 officers (multi-year mean)

Internal affairs investigations per 100 reported officers, averaged over the years where the agency reported both figures.

Discipline severityweight 40%

98th percentileof 21 peers

242.4 severity-weighted discipline per 100 officers, 2020-2025

Major discipline records weighted by sanction (termination 4, demotion 3, suspension 2, other 1) per 100 officers.

Allegation severityweight 20%

40th percentileof 21 peers

1.57 mean severity tier (1 low - 4 critical)

Mean severity tier of IA allegations across 2021-2025, using the published tier map; unknown values excluded.

What this grade can and can't tell you

The underlying data is self-reported by agencies, one yearly snapshot at a time.
Allegations are not findings; many complaints end unfounded, exonerated, or not sustained.
There is no arrest or call-volume denominator in this data, so nothing here is a per-capita misconduct rate. A genuinely independent staffing-based rate, sourced from the FBI rather than this grade's own data, appears above when available. It is a different measurement, not a more accurate version of the grade.
A higher internal affairs volume is ambiguous: it can indicate more misconduct, or a more robust oversight and reporting culture. The grade weighs it anyway, because volume is what the record offers; that choice is published, not hidden.
The grade is one lens. The records it reads are on this page above.

Where this agency ranks

AnalysisRankings compare agencies of the same type only, on figures as reported. A high rank is reported volume, not a verdict.^[16] How each metric is defined.

This agency's rank on each metric, among agencies of the same type
Metric	Value	Rank
IA per 100 investigated officers2025	140.9	6th of 20 county sheriff
IA investigations2025	31	10th of 20 county sheriff
IA incidents2025	26	9th of 20 county sheriff
Major discipline2020-2025	21	3rd of 17 county sheriff
Terminations2020-2025	2	6th of 12 county sheriff

Major discipline records

4 major discipline records in 2025, up from 1 in 2020 (+300%).
Year	major discipline records
2020	1
2021	7
2022	2
2023	4
2024	3
2025	4

4 major discipline records in 2025, up from 1 in 2020 (+300%).

Major discipline records reported by Cape May County Sheriff's Office, 2020-2025
Year	Officer	Rank	Sanction as reported	Src
2025	Khoury Causey	Correctional Police Officer	Suspended 6 days	^[17]
2025	Erin McPherson	Correctional Police Officer	Suspended (days not reported)	^[18]
2025	Robert O'Donnell	Correctional Police Officer	TerminatedSeparated while IA pending	^[19]
2025	Joseph Will	Correctional Police Officer	Suspended 9 days	^[20]
2024	Emily Descala	Sheriff's Officer	Separated while IA pending	^[21]
2024	Jonathan Perez	Correctional Police Officer	Terminated	^[22]
2024	Ivan Addu	Sheriff's Officer	Suspended 12 days	^[23]
2023	William Nielsen	Sergeant	Suspended 45 days	^[24]
2023	Tyler Dunne	Officer	Suspended 91 days	^[25]
2023	Douglas Siteman	Officer	DemotedSuspended 130 days	^[26]
2023	Erick Womack	Officer	Suspended 5 days	^[27]
2022	Robert Leininger	Sergeant	Suspended 15 days	^[28]
2022	Robert Leininger	Sergeant	Suspended 8 days	^[29]
2021	Christine Caldwell	Officer	DemotedSuspended 30 days	^[30]
2021	Scott Harris	Officer	Suspended 5 days	^[31]
2021	David Douglass	Officer	Suspended 30 days	^[32]
2021	Scott Harris	Officer	Suspended 91 days	^[33]
2021	David Douglass	Officer	Suspended 130 days	^[34]
2021	Robert Leininger	Sergeant	Suspended 22 days	^[35]
2021	Thomas Rucci	Sergeant	Suspended 24 days	^[36]
2020	Gary Erdmann	Officer	Suspended 10 days	^[37]

Every name links to the officer's record page with the agency's full synopsis and citation.

Fatal encounters recorded involving this agency

From the independent Fatal Encounters dataset, 2000-2021

In brief (written by this site from the records below)

One record in the Fatal Encounters dataset names Cape May County Sheriff's Office, in 2010. The dataset records the force on it, in its own as-recorded terms, as Gunshot. Fatal Encounters is an independent, crowdsourced journalism project that documented deaths occurring during police encounters of any kind, including vehicle pursuits, suicides in police presence, and medical emergencies. A record is not a finding of fault, and it is not a discipline record from the Attorney General data shown elsewhere on this page. The project stopped collecting in December 2021, so the dataset is frozen and the absence of later records reflects the end of collection.

Fatal Encounters is an independent, crowdsourced dataset that documented deaths during police encounters nationwide from 2000 until its collection ended in December 2021.^[2] It records all deaths that occurred during a police encounter of any kind: vehicle pursuits, suicides in police presence, and medical emergencies are included alongside uses of force. A record appears here because Cape May County Sheriff's Officeis named in the record's as-reported agency field. A listing is not a misconduct finding, and it is not connected to the Attorney General discipline records above. See the methodology. Each record links to its own page with the full as-reported details.

Douglas J. Wnek
October 3, 2010 · Middle Township · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

Public records requests

No records-request history is shown for this department. OPRAmachine, an independent site that files and publishes Open Public Records Act requests, has no public body that confidently matches this department, so this site does not assert one. That does not mean nobody has requested records from it. (Checked against a snapshot of OPRAmachine taken 12 July 2026.) See the methodology for how the match is made.

Questions and answers

What is a summary of Cape May County Sheriff's Office's internal affairs and discipline record?

The Cape May County Sheriff's Office reported 31 internal affairs investigations in 2025 and 22 officers named in those cases, after logging just 1 in 2024. Its rate of 140.9 per 100 officers ran above the 115.2 median for sheriff agencies. The comparison cuts two ways, since a higher rate can reflect more misconduct or a fuller accounting of complaints. Of the 31 investigations detailed for 2025, 23 reported sustained complaints. Neglect of Duty led at 10, followed by Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency at 8 and Attendance Issues at 6. Twenty-one major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, with records in every year from 2020 through 2025, including two terminations. The office received an F on the report card, at the 93rd percentile among 21 peers in the group of all sheriff agencies, a high-confidence grade.

How many internal affairs investigations did Cape May County Sheriff's Office report in 2025?

Cape May County Sheriff's Office reported 31 internal affairs investigations in 2025, according to New Jersey Attorney General data. 22 distinct officers were named in that year's IA investigations.

How many major discipline records does Cape May County Sheriff's Office have?

Cape May County Sheriff's Office has 21 major discipline records in the Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, of which 2 were terminations. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.

Does Cape May County Sheriff's Office encrypt its radio communications?

According to PoliceRadioEncryption.com, Cape May County Sheriff's Office encrypts part of its radio communications (P25 AES-256), as recorded on 2026-03-06. This site treats radio encryption as a transparency signal, which is analysis, not a figure from the discipline data.

How many deaths during police encounters are recorded for Cape May County Sheriff's Office?

The independent Fatal Encounters dataset contains 1 record naming Cape May County Sheriff's Office, from 2010 through 2010. Fatal Encounters is a crowdsourced journalism project, not a government source, and it documented deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind. Each record links to a page showing it exactly as the project recorded it.

Sources

[1]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 2194. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[2]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Fatal Encounters national dataset (2000-2021); collection ended December 2021. Retrieved 2026-07-10. https://fatalencounters.org/ ↩
[3]New Jersey Internal Affairs Officers, 2024-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Officer counts summed across every Cape May Co Sheriffs Office row. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[4]New Jersey county boundaries. New Jersey Office of Information Technology, Office of GIS (NJOGIS). NJ_Counties_3857 (FeatureServer layer 0), https://services2.arcgis.com/XVOqAjTOJ5P6ngMu/arcgis/rest/services/NJ_Counties_3857/FeatureServer/0. 2020 boundary delineation. Retrieved 2026-07-27. Boundaries are generalized for display. This data set is not a survey document and must not be used as such. The polygons do not represent legal boundaries.
[5]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 163. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[6]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1178. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[7]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1689. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[8]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 669. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[9]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 2194. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[10]New Jersey Internal Affairs Investigations, 2024-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. Aggregated from every Cape May Co Sheriffs Office row for 2025; row 1 is the header. ↩
[11]New Jersey Internal Affairs Data Download, 2021-2023. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. Aggregated from every Cape May Co Sheriffs Office row for 2021. ↩
[12]New Jersey Internal Affairs Data Download, 2021-2023. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. Aggregated from every Cape May Co Sheriffs Office row for 2022. ↩
[13]New Jersey Internal Affairs Data Download, 2021-2023. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. Aggregated from every Cape May Co Sheriffs Office row for 2023. ↩
[14]New Jersey Internal Affairs Investigations, 2024-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. Aggregated from every Cape May Co Sheriffs Office row for 2024. ↩
[15]New Jersey Internal Affairs Investigations, 2024-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. Aggregated from every Cape May Co Sheriffs Office row for 2025. ↩
[16]Ranks computed by this site over the Attorney General internal affairs agency totals and major discipline releases, within agency type. Each ranking page lists every agency and its source rows. ↩
[17]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 260. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[18]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 261. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[19]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 262. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[20]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 263. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[21]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1029. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[22]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1030. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[23]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1031. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[24]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1616. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[25]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1617. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[26]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1618. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[27]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1619. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[28]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2130. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[29]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2131. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[30]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2501. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[31]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2502. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[32]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2503. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[33]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2504. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[34]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2505. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[35]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2506. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[36]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2507. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[37]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2822. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩