Department profile · Hudson County

Hudson County Sheriff's Department

Reported as: Hudson Co Sheriffs DeptCounty sheriff

Jurisdiction context

Civil service jurisdiction

Discipline at this department is governed by the Title 4A civil service framework, matched to Hudson 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 Hudson County Sheriff's Department reported 71 internal affairs investigations in 2025 and 56 officers named in those cases, up from 42 investigations in 2024. Its rate of 126.8 per 100 officers matched the county median of 126.8 and ran above the 115.2 median for sheriff agencies. Sitting above that median is not proof of a worse department, since agencies that document complaints more completely also post higher rates. Of the 71 investigations detailed for 2025, 8 reported sustained complaints. Other Departmental Rule Violation was the leading category with 31 cases, ahead of Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency with 12 and Demeanor with 8.

Twenty major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, spanning every year from 2020 through 2025, including 2 terminations. The department received a D on the report card, at the 76th percentile among 21 peers among 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

56^{^[1]}

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

IA investigations, 2025

71^{^[1]}

Incidents, 2025

44^{^[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 Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Category	counts
2021	35
2022	46
2023	46
2024	42
2025	71

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Incidents

44 in 2025

Internal affairs incidents reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	counts
2021	35
2022	39
2023	33
2024	35
2025	44

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Officers on IA rows

70 in 2025

Officers listed on the officer-level internal affairs rows for Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	counts
2021	not reported
2022	not reported
2023	not reported
2024	42
2025	70

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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 Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	share of total
2021	0
2022	23.913
2023	0
2024	7.143
2025	11.268

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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 70 officers involved.

Most serious allegation

Most serious allegations reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, 2025
Other Departmental Rule Violation	31
Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency	12
Demeanor	8
Neglect of Duty	7
Improper Arrest	2
Theft	2
Excessive Force	2
Improper Supervision/Failure To Supervise	2

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AdministrativeConduct / dutyRights / integrityViolence / criminal

Statewide category pages: Other Departmental Rule Violation · Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency · Demeanor · Neglect of Duty · Improper Arrest · Theft · Excessive Force · Improper Supervision/Failure To Supervise

Internal disposition

Internal dispositions reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, 2025
Exonerated	24
not provided	24
Sustained	12
Not Sustained	7
Administratively Closed	3
Unfounded	1

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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

84 of 240

Other Departmental Rule Violation allegations reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	counts
2021	13
2022	4
2023	28
2024	8
2025	31

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Demeanor

57 of 240

Demeanor allegations reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	counts
2021	15
2022	11
2023	13
2024	10
2025	8

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Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency

18 of 240

Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency allegations reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	counts
2021	0
2022	3
2023	0
2024	3
2025	12

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Neglect of Duty

15 of 240

Neglect of Duty allegations reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	counts
2021	0
2022	3
2023	0
2024	5
2025	7

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Other (19 categories)

66 of 240

Other (19 categories) allegations reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, by year
Year	counts
2021	7
2022	25
2023	5
2024	16
2025	13

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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)
Hudson County Sheriff's Department	126.8
County median, county sheriff (1)	126.8
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 D: Second-highest fifth

On reported IA volume and discipline severity; see methodology

Combined standing: 76th percentile of 21 peers
Confidence: High confidence

Where this agency falls among its peers

The actual spread of discipline severity across Hudson County Sheriff's Department'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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Hudson County Sheriff's Department: 103.286 severity-weighted discipline per 100 IA-investigated officers: 69th 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%

55th percentileof 21 peers

111.4 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%

69th percentileof 21 peers

103.3 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%

74th percentileof 21 peers

1.96 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	126.8	7th of 20 county sheriff
IA investigations2025	71	4th of 20 county sheriff
IA incidents2025	44	4th of 20 county sheriff
Major discipline2020-2025	20	4th of 17 county sheriff
Terminations2020-2025	2	6th of 12 county sheriff

Major discipline records

3 major discipline records in 2025, down from 7 in 2020 (-57%).
Year	major discipline records
2020	7
2021	2
2022	1
2023	4
2024	3
2025	3

3 major discipline records in 2025, down from 7 in 2020 (-57%).

Major discipline records reported by Hudson County Sheriff's Department, 2020-2025
Year	Officer	Rank	Sanction as reported	Src
2025	Jayden Clavijo	Officer	Suspended 10 days	^[17]
2025	David Fontanez	Officer	Suspended 30 days	^[18]
2025	Francine Shelton	Undersheriff	Suspended 180 days	^[19]
2024	Jonathan Olivo	Officer	Suspended 30 days	^[20]
2024	William Medina	Detective	TerminatedSuspended 307 days	^[21]
2024	Jonathan Olivo	Officer	Suspended 182 days	^[22]
2023	Antonio Lucia	Sergeant	Suspended 180 days	^[23]
2023	William Medina	Detective	Suspended 206 days	^[24]
2023	Bartholomew Lore	Officer	Suspended 150 days	^[25]
2023	Salvatore DiCiacco	Sergeant	Suspended 30 days	^[26]
2022	Joseph Llave	Officer	Suspended 15 days	^[27]
2021	Edward Franco	Officer	Suspended 45 days	^[28]
2021	Nicholas Coviello	Investigator	Suspended 30 days	^[29]
2020	Edward Franco	Officer	Suspended 10 days	^[30]
2020	Gabriela Burgos	Officer	Suspended 10 days	^[31]
2020	Jose Gonzalez	Officer	Suspended 15 days	^[32]
2020	Victor Silva	Officer	Suspended 20 days	^[33]
2020	Jasmine Cruz	Officer	Suspended 90 days	^[34]
2020	Nicole Buzinkai	Officer	Suspended 90 days	^[35]
2020	Paul Newman	Investigator	Terminated	^[36]

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)

Two records in the Fatal Encounters dataset name Hudson County Sheriff's Department, spanning 2003 through 2018. The force labels, as recorded by the project, are Gunshot in one, and Vehicle in one. 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 Hudson County Sheriff's Departmentis 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.

Umar King
January 23, 2018 · Jersey City · Highest level of force as recorded: Vehicle
Abraham Santiago
April 3, 2003 · Jersey City · 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 Hudson County Sheriff's Department's internal affairs and discipline record?

The Hudson County Sheriff's Department reported 71 internal affairs investigations in 2025 and 56 officers named in those cases, up from 42 investigations in 2024. Its rate of 126.8 per 100 officers matched the county median of 126.8 and ran above the 115.2 median for sheriff agencies. Sitting above that median is not proof of a worse department, since agencies that document complaints more completely also post higher rates. Of the 71 investigations detailed for 2025, 8 reported sustained complaints. Other Departmental Rule Violation was the leading category with 31 cases, ahead of Conduct Unbecoming/Discredit To The Agency with 12 and Demeanor with 8. Twenty major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, spanning every year from 2020 through 2025, including 2 terminations. The department received a D on the report card, at the 76th percentile among 21 peers among all sheriff agencies, a high-confidence grade.

How many internal affairs investigations did Hudson County Sheriff's Department report in 2025?

Hudson County Sheriff's Department reported 71 internal affairs investigations in 2025, according to New Jersey Attorney General data. 56 distinct officers were named in that year's IA investigations.

How many major discipline records does Hudson County Sheriff's Department have?

Hudson County Sheriff's Department has 20 major discipline records in the Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, of which 2 were terminations. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.

How many deaths during police encounters are recorded for Hudson County Sheriff's Department?

The independent Fatal Encounters dataset contains 2 records naming Hudson County Sheriff's Department, from 2003 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 2262. 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 Hudson Co Sheriffs Dept 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 231. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[6]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1248. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[7]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1755. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[8]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 739. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
[9]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 2262. 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 Hudson Co Sheriffs Dept 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 Hudson Co Sheriffs Dept 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 Hudson Co Sheriffs Dept 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 Hudson Co Sheriffs Dept 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 Hudson Co Sheriffs Dept 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 Hudson Co Sheriffs Dept 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 370. 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 371. 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 372. 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 1101. 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 1102. 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 1103. 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 1724. 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 1725. 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 1726. 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 1727. 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 2204. 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 2579. 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 2580. 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 2858. 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 2859. 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 2860. 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 2861. 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 2862. 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 2863. 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 2864. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩