Department profile · Essex County
Essex County Sheriff's Office
Reported as: Essex Co Sheriffs OfficeCounty sheriff
Jurisdiction context
Civil service jurisdiction
Discipline at this department is governed by the Title 4A civil service framework, matched to Essex 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.
In brief
The Essex County Sheriff's Office reported 176 internal affairs investigations in 2025 and 116 officers named in those cases, in line with the 178 it logged in 2024. Its rate of 151.7 per 100 officers matched the county median and ran well above the 115.2 median for sheriff agencies. That distance can mean a heavier misconduct load or an office that records more of the complaints it receives. Of the 176 investigations detailed for 2025, 55 reported sustained complaints. Demeanor led the allegation categories, followed by EEO and Neglect of Duty.
Nine major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, from 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, including three terminations. The office received a C on the report card, at the 55th percentile among 21 peers in the all sheriff agencies group, 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
116[1]
Distinct officers in that year's IA investigations, not total staffing
IA investigations, 2025
176[1]
Incidents, 2025
150[1]
Major discipline records
9
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
| Category | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 100 |
| 2022 | 160 |
| 2023 | 155 |
| 2024 | 178 |
| 2025 | 176 |
Incidents
150 in 2025
| Year | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 68 |
| 2022 | 129 |
| 2023 | 135 |
| 2024 | 159 |
| 2025 | 150 |
Officers on IA rows
171 in 2025
| Year | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | not reported |
| 2022 | not reported |
| 2023 | not reported |
| 2024 | 173 |
| 2025 | 171 |
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
| Year | share of total |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 0 |
| 2022 | 23.75 |
| 2023 | 27.097 |
| 2024 | 83.708 |
| 2025 | 31.25 |
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 171 officers involved.
Most serious allegation
| Demeanor | 25 |
|---|---|
| EEO | 20 |
| Neglect of Duty | 17 |
| Other Departmental Rule Violation | 15 |
| Attendance Issues | 15 |
| Other Criminal Violation | 12 |
| Theft | 11 |
| Preventable MV accident | 11 |
Statewide category pages: Demeanor · EEO · Neglect of Duty · Other Departmental Rule Violation · Attendance Issues · Other Criminal Violation · Theft · Preventable MV accident
Internal disposition
| not provided | 73 |
|---|---|
| Sustained | 49 |
| Unfounded | 33 |
| Exonerated | 16 |
| Not Sustained | 5 |
Allegations by year, 2021 to 2025
Other Departmental Rule Violation
195 of 769
| Year | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 74 |
| 2022 | 37 |
| 2023 | 27 |
| 2024 | 42 |
| 2025 | 15 |
Attendance Issues
90 of 769
| Year | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 0 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 29 |
| 2024 | 28 |
| 2025 | 15 |
Demeanor
82 of 769
| Year | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 |
| 2022 | 17 |
| 2023 | 14 |
| 2024 | 15 |
| 2025 | 25 |
Preventable MV Accident
82 of 769
| Year | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 0 |
| 2022 | 16 |
| 2023 | 22 |
| 2024 | 24 |
| 2025 | 20 |
Other (26 categories)
320 of 769
| Year | counts |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 |
| 2022 | 72 |
| 2023 | 63 |
| 2024 | 69 |
| 2025 | 101 |
Against peers, 2025
How this grade was built →| Essex County Sheriff's Office | 151.7 |
|---|---|
| County median, county sheriff (1) | 151.7 |
| NJ median, county sheriff (20) | 115.2 |
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 C: Middle fifth of peers
On reported IA volume and discipline severity; see methodology
- Combined standing
- 55th percentile of 21 peers
- Confidence
- High confidence
Where this agency falls among its peers
The actual spread of discipline severity across Essex 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)
| Range | Agencies |
|---|---|
| 0–50 | 6 |
| 50–100 | 8 |
| 100–150 | 6 |
| 150–200 | 0 |
| 200–250 | 1 |
Essex County Sheriff's Office: 21.818 severity-weighted discipline per 100 IA-investigated officers: 21st 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%
138.8 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%
21.8 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%
1.87 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
| Metric | Value | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| IA per 100 investigated officers2025 | 151.7 | 3rd of 20 county sheriff |
| IA investigations2025 | 176 | 1st of 20 county sheriff |
| IA incidents2025 | 150 | 1st of 20 county sheriff |
| Major discipline2020-2025 | 9 | 7th of 17 county sheriff |
| Terminations2020-2025 | 3 | 4th of 12 county sheriff |
Major discipline records
| Year | major discipline records |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 0 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2024 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 |
3 major discipline records in 2025, up from 0 in 2020.
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)
Seven records in the Fatal Encounters dataset name Essex County Sheriff's Office, spanning 2004 through 2018. The force labels, as recorded by the project, are Gunshot in seven of them. Fatal Encounters is an independent, crowdsourced journalism project that documented deaths occurring during police encounters of any kind, including vehicle pursuits, deaths in police presence, and medical emergencies. A record is not a finding of fault against the agency or any officer, and it is not connected to the Attorney General discipline records elsewhere on this page. The project stopped collecting in December 2021, so the dataset is frozen and nothing after that date appears here.
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 Essex 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.
- Paul Braswell
September 26, 2018 · Newark · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot
- Scott Mayfield
August 24, 2017 · Orange · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot
- Jose "Menace" Quinonez
November 6, 2013 · Newark · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot
- DeFarra "Dean" Gaymon
July 16, 2010 · Newark · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot
- Darnell McNeil
February 7, 2010 · Newark · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot
- Amar McLean
November 5, 2009 · Newark · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot
- Niem Williams
July 2, 2004 · Newark · 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 Essex County Sheriff's Office's internal affairs and discipline record?
The Essex County Sheriff's Office reported 176 internal affairs investigations in 2025 and 116 officers named in those cases, in line with the 178 it logged in 2024. Its rate of 151.7 per 100 officers matched the county median and ran well above the 115.2 median for sheriff agencies. That distance can mean a heavier misconduct load or an office that records more of the complaints it receives. Of the 176 investigations detailed for 2025, 55 reported sustained complaints. Demeanor led the allegation categories, followed by EEO and Neglect of Duty. Nine major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, from 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, including three terminations. The office received a C on the report card, at the 55th percentile among 21 peers in the all sheriff agencies group, a high-confidence grade.
How many internal affairs investigations did Essex County Sheriff's Office report in 2025?
Essex County Sheriff's Office reported 176 internal affairs investigations in 2025, according to New Jersey Attorney General data. 116 distinct officers were named in that year's IA investigations.
How many major discipline records does Essex County Sheriff's Office have?
Essex County Sheriff's Office has 9 major discipline records in the Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, of which 3 were terminations. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
How many deaths during police encounters are recorded for Essex County Sheriff's Office?
The independent Fatal Encounters dataset contains 7 records naming Essex County Sheriff's Office, from 2004 through 2018. 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 2216. 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 Essex 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 184. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
- [6]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1201. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
- [7]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1709. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
- [8]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 692. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
- [9]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 2216. 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 Essex 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 Essex 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 Essex 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 Essex 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 Essex 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 Essex 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 305. 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 306. 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 307. 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 1066. 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 1657. 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 1658. 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 1659. 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 2153. 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 2536. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩