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Department profile · Passaic County

Paterson Police Department

Reported as: Paterson PDMunicipal police

Jurisdiction context

Civil service jurisdiction

Discipline at this department is governed by the Title 4A civil service framework, matched to Paterson 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

Paterson Police Department named 187 officers in internal affairs cases in 2025 across 292 investigations, a rate of 156.1 per 100 officers. That is above the Passaic County median of 125 and the 125.9 median for municipal police, and a rate that high can reflect a heavier volume of misconduct or a department that documents more of what is reported to it. Of the 292 investigations detailed for 2025, 107 reported sustained complaints. Excessive Force was the leading allegation category, with Other Departmental Rule Violation and Other Criminal Violation also prominent. Allegations are not findings.

Seventeen major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, in every year from 2020 through 2025, including two terminations. Paterson received a D on the report card, at the 75th percentile among 93 peers in the 60+ officers 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

187[1]

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

IA investigations, 2025

292[1]

Incidents, 2025

204[1]

Major discipline records

17

All years, 2020-2025

Staffing

As reported by the department to the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) census, full-time personnel as of October 31 each year. This is a different measurement from the "officers named in IA cases" figure above; see the methodology.

Sworn officers, 2025

412[8]

66 years reported

412 sworn officers in 2025, up from 277 in 1960 (+49%).
Yearsworn officers
1960277
1961284
1962292
1963293
1964309
1965316
1966334
1967340
1968346
1969383
1970393
1971394
1972393
1973412
1974411
1975426
1976421
1977430
1978430
1979421
1980421
1981396
1982348
1983342
1984347
1985366
1986378
1987382
1988377
1989378
1990347
1991353
1992357
1993364
1994302
1995356
1996386
1997382
1998401
1999436
2000430
2001438
2002429
2003376
2004399
2005444
2006457
2007494
2008477
2009488
2010497
2011357
2012371
2013365
2014398
2015401
2016383
2017400
2018419
2019419
2020403
2021408
2022412
2023412
2024412
2025412

Civilian employees, 2025

68[9]

0.17 per sworn officer

Female sworn officers, 2025

64[10]

15.5% of sworn officers

Officers per 1,000 residents, 2025

2.57[11]

Municipal departments only

AnalysisComputed by this site from LEE reported totals; not an official statistic.

How Paterson Police Department's sworn staffing compares with its real peer group (same agency type, similar size band), not an assumed bell curve.

Peer group: Municipal police, 60+ officers (n=92)

Sworn officers: Municipal police, 60+ officers
RangeAgencies
0–20085
200–4005
400–6000
600–8001
800–10000
1000–12001

Paterson Police Department: 412 sworn officers: 97th percentile among Municipal police, 60+ officers (n=92).

The match between this FBI record and this department is this site's inference, not a certified mapping. If it is wrong, we will remove it: corrections.

Officer pay and school-staff pay

County comparison

A separate dataset from the discipline records above: NJ Treasury pension salaries as of March 31, 2026, for the 400 active Paterson Police Department officers in the file.

Median officer salary

$107,625[3]

400 active officers

Median local school staff

$96,825

PATERSON BD OF ED, 2,165 TPAF members

Against the local district

1.11x

Median officer to median local school staff

Against the county

1.20x

Median officer to Passaic County school-staff median

AnalysisEvery ratio here is computed by this site from as-reported pensionable salaries. The local school figure comes from the pension employer "PATERSON BD OF ED", linked to this municipality only because exactly one district in the county resolves to it. A pay comparison is not a statement about either budget. The full county comparison, including the distribution and the tenure-adjusted figure, is on the Passaic County pay page.

Military surplus equipment (1033 program)

In brief

Written by this site from the figures below.

The entries for Paterson Police Department are all old and all small: 25 recorded line items of Guns, through 30mm, shipped between 1994 and 2000, with a total recorded value of $3,450 in original Department of Defense acquisition cost rather than current or market value. The category is one this site classes as tactical. Nothing more recent is recorded, and transfers received a generation ago are not a current inventory, since non-controlled items may be disposed of after one year. Receiving surplus equipment through the program is not misconduct, and this federal data is separate in origin from the Attorney General discipline records on this page.

Surplus military equipment transferred to this agency under the Defense Department's 1033 program, as recorded by the Defense Logistics Agency.

Total recorded value

$3,450[2]

Original DoD cost, not market value

Tactical equipment value

$3,450[2]

25 of 25 line items classed tactical

Transfer window

1994-2000[2]

Earliest to latest recorded ship date

Quantities received, by unit of issue: 25 items (Each). Units of issue differ (an item and a kit are not the same thing), so no single combined item count exists.

Top categories by recorded value

Top 1033 equipment categories received by Paterson Police Department, by recorded value (original DoD acquisition cost, dollars)
Guns, through 30mm3,450 tactical

Categories received: tactical vs mundane

Each category is classed tactical or mundane by this site's published classification of its Federal Supply Class. Much of what moves through the program is mundane surplus (tools, office and medical equipment); the tactical rows are what the Militarization Index below measures.

1033 equipment categories received by Paterson Police Department, grouped tactical vs mundane
CategoryClassLine itemsQuantity receivedRecorded value (original cost)
Guns, through 30mmWeapons · FSC 1005Tactical2525 items (Each)$3,450

Every recorded transfer

Equipment class

Sort

Filtering only hides rows; every recorded transfer stays in the table below it.

Scroll sideways for more columns →

1033 program transfers recorded for Paterson Police Department, as recorded by the Defense Logistics Agency
ItemCategoryQtyRecorded valueOriginal DoD cost
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 2000-04-06 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 2000-04-06 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 2000-04-06 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 2000-04-06 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 2000-04-06 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 2000-04-06 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1995-08-17 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138
RIFLE,7.62 MILLIMETERNSN 1005-00-589-1271Shipped 1994-08-08 · DEMIL DGuns, through 30mm Tactical1 Each$138

25 of 25 recorded transfers shown. Quantities are per unit of issue and are never summed across units. DEMIL code A: non-controlled property, may be disposed of after one year (so a listed item is not necessarily still held). Codes such as C, D, F, and Q: controlled property with federal return or demilitarization requirements.

AnalysisMilitarization Index: computed by this site, not an official statistic.

Paterson Police Department received $8 of tactical 1033 equipment value per sworn officer (original cost, divided by its latest FBI-reported staffing): the 52nd percentile among municipal police agencies of similar size (60+ officers, n=93).

Peer group: Municipal police, 60+ officers (n=93)

Tactical 1033 value per sworn officer: Municipal police, 60+ officers
RangeAgencies
0–500075
5000–100009
10000–150006
15000–200002

Paterson Police Department: 8 dollars of tactical 1033 acquisition value per sworn officer: 52nd percentile among Municipal police, 60+ officers (n=93).

A higher index is not automatically worse. It divides cumulative transfers over the covered window by current staffing, so it measures how intensively an agency has participated in the program, not what it holds today. See the methodology.

Statewide totals, per-county rollups, and the top categories across all of New Jersey are on the 1033 program overview.

Internal affairs investigations by year

counts

Internal affairs investigations reported by Paterson Police Department, by year
Categorycounts
2021204
2022222
2023345
2024265
2025292

Incidents

204 in 2025

Internal affairs incidents reported by Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearcounts
2021180
2022178
2023222
2024177
2025204

Officers on IA rows

291 in 2025

Officers listed on the officer-level internal affairs rows for Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearcounts
2021not reported
2022not reported
2023not reported
2024263
2025291
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 Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearshare of total
20210
20221.351
202313.623
202433.208
202536.644

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 291 officers involved.

Most serious allegation

Most serious allegations reported by Paterson Police Department, 2025
Excessive Force64
Other Departmental Rule Violation59
Other Criminal Violation33
Preventable MV Accident29
Demeanor25
Theft18
Attendance Issues17
Improper Arrest11
AdministrativeConduct / dutyRights / integrityViolence / criminal

Statewide category pages: Excessive Force · Other Departmental Rule Violation · Other Criminal Violation · Preventable MV Accident · Demeanor · Theft · Attendance Issues · Improper Arrest

Internal disposition

Internal dispositions reported by Paterson Police Department, 2025
Sustained107
Exonerated83
not provided65
Not Sustained24
Unfounded10
Administratively Closed3

Allegations by year, 2021 to 2025

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

Other Departmental Rule Violation

371 of 1,328

Other Departmental Rule Violation allegations reported by Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearcounts
2021105
202286
202388
202433
202559

Excessive Force

287 of 1,328

Excessive Force allegations reported by Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearcounts
202140
202248
202368
202467
202564

Other Criminal Violation

129 of 1,328

Other Criminal Violation allegations reported by Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearcounts
202121
202227
202324
202424
202533

Demeanor

112 of 1,328

Demeanor allegations reported by Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearcounts
202121
202217
202328
202421
202525

Other (23 categories)

429 of 1,328

Other (23 categories) allegations reported by Paterson Police Department, by year
Yearcounts
202117
202244
2023137
2024120
2025111

Against peers, 2025

How this grade was built →
Internal affairs investigations per 100 IA-investigated officers, 2025 (investigations per 100 IA-investigated officers)
Paterson Police Department156.1
County median, municipal police (17)125.0
NJ median, municipal police (445)125.9

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.

AnalysisA second, independent rate using FBI-reported staffing instead.

292 investigations reported for 2025[1] ÷ 412 sworn officers the department reported to the FBI for 2025[23] = 70.9 per 100 FBI-reported sworn officers. This is a genuinely different denominator from the rate above, not a correction of it; the two should not be added or averaged together. See the methodology for why these two officer counts diverge.

Report card

Grade D: Second-highest fifth

On reported IA volume and discipline severity; see methodology

Combined standing
75th percentile of 93 peers
Confidence
High confidence

Where this agency falls among its peers

The actual spread of discipline severity across Paterson Police Department's real peer group, not an assumed bell curve. If the group is skewed, it is shown skewed.

Peer group: Municipal police, 60+ officers (n=93)

Discipline severity: Municipal police, 60+ officers
RangeAgencies
0–5066
50–10025
100–1501
150–2001

Paterson Police Department: 17.039 severity-weighted discipline per 100 IA-investigated officers: 26th percentile among Municipal police, 60+ officers (n=93).

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 93 peers

155.0 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%

26th percentileof 93 peers

17.0 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%

92nd percentileof 93 peers

2.51 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.[24] How each metric is defined.
This agency's rank on each metric, among agencies of the same type
MetricValueRank
IA per 100 investigated officers2025156.191st of 445 municipal police
IA investigations20252926th of 445 municipal police
IA incidents20252046th of 445 municipal police
Major discipline2020-2025179th of 282 municipal police
Terminations2020-2025215th of 111 municipal police
Militarization Indexas of 2026-06-30$8151st of 163 municipal police
Sworn per 1,000 residentslatest reported census year2.57189th of 460 municipal police
Police pay vs school paypension snapshot 2026-03-311.20x307th of 415 municipal police
OPRA requests recordedOPRAmachine, 2017 to present5925th of 458 municipal police

Major discipline records

1 major discipline records in 2025, holding roughly steady.
Yearmajor discipline records
20201
20212
20222
20232
20249
20251

1 major discipline records in 2025, holding roughly steady.

Major discipline records reported by Paterson Police Department, 2020-2025
YearOfficerRankSanction as reportedSrc
2025Gina CastagnettoOfficerOther sanction[25]
2024Angel AcevedoOfficerOther sanction[26]
2024Giuseppe CiarlaSergeantOther sanction[27]
2024Juan CruzOfficerOther sanction[28]
2024Jeury DeJesusOfficerOther sanction[29]
2024Oliver GarciaDetectiveOther sanction[30]
2024Matthew McKoyOfficerSuspended 30 days[31]
2024Michael NesticoOfficerSuspended 30 days[32]
2024Justin SchmidOfficerOther sanction[33]
2024Valentin TorresDetectiveOther sanction[34]
2023Sebastian GomezSergeantSuspended 10 days[35]
2023Alberto SanabriaOfficerOther sanction[36]
2022Jacob FelicianoOfficerSuspended 90 days[37]
2022Michael CheffSergeantTerminated[38]
2021Jack SanchezPatrol OfficerSuspended 20 days[39]
2021Spencer FinchPatrol OfficerTerminatedSuspended 30 days[40]
2020Jack SanchezPatrol OfficerSuspended 20 days[41]

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)

Seventeen records in the Fatal Encounters dataset name Paterson Police Department, in years from 2001 through 2021. The dataset's own as-recorded level of force is listed as Gunshot in fourteen of them, and as Asphyxiated/Restrained, Medical emergency, and Vehicle in one record each. Fatal Encounters was an independent, crowdsourced journalism project that logged deaths occurring during police encounters of any kind, including vehicle pursuits, deaths by suicide in police presence, and medical emergencies. A record is not a finding of fault, and it does not say police caused the death. The project stopped collecting in December 2021, so the dataset is frozen at that point and nothing after it 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.[4] 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 Paterson Police 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.

  • Thelonious "RaRa" McKnight

    December 29, 2021 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Jose Gonzalez

    October 2, 2021 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Asphyxiated/Restrained

  • Luan Leo Agolli

    April 23, 2020 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Jameek Lowery

    January 5, 2019 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Medical emergency

  • Name withheld by police

    April 14, 2017 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Ramon Andrade

    March 2, 2017 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Ismael Miranda

    June 23, 2016 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Etoine Baucum

    May 31, 2014 · Clifton · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • John Murray

    January 4, 2014 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Salvador Del Rosario

    September 1, 2012 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Jacobe Hyatt

    January 1, 2012 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Lewis Baker

    April 27, 2011 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • David Elcock

    April 16, 2010 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Darryl Terrell Clayton

    February 17, 2004 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Keyshon "Key Pretty" Chitty

    October 30, 2002 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Eugene Goldsmith

    May 23, 2001 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

  • Ernest Stokes

    January 18, 2001 · Paterson · Highest level of force as recorded: Vehicle

Public records requests

Records requests about this department filed through OPRAmachine, an independent site that files Open Public Records Act requests in public and publishes the responses.[5] This is a third-party, user-generated source, separate in origin from the Attorney General records elsewhere on this page.

Current as of 12 July 2026. These figures are a point-in-time snapshot and do not update: requests filed to OPRAmachine after that date do not appear here. For live activity, see this body on OPRAmachine.

This department has no separate listing on OPRAmachine. Records requests for it are handled through Paterson City, the municipal records custodian, which also fields requests about permits, property, and code enforcement. Only the 59 requests whose subject line indicates it concerns the police department are counted below. The other 228 filed to Paterson City are about something else and are not shown.

Police-related requests

59[5]

Identified by subject line, of 287 filed to Paterson City

Most recent request

May 2026[5]

First recorded November 2017

Awaiting a response

41[5]

Requests with no response recorded yet

What happened to those requests

Statuses as recorded on OPRAmachine. They are set by the person who filed the request when they classify what came back, not by the agency and not by any court. They describe the fate of a records request and nothing else.

Recorded outcomes of police-related records requests to Paterson City (requests)
Awaiting agency response41
Under internal review5
Requester reported partial success4
Requester reported success4
Request refused2
Withdrawn by requester2
Agency said records not held1

Recent requests

The 12 most recent police-related requests to Paterson City, by date and recorded status. Each was written by a member of the public. A request is a question somebody asked. It is not a finding, not an allegation this site makes, and not evidence that anything happened.

  1. 2026-05-27Awaiting agency response
  2. 2025-12-30Awaiting agency response
  3. 2025-11-09Under internal review
  4. 2025-09-15Awaiting agency response
  5. 2025-08-16Awaiting agency response
  6. 2025-08-16Awaiting agency response
  7. 2025-08-16Awaiting agency response
  8. 2025-05-31Awaiting agency response
  9. 2025-05-31Awaiting agency response
  10. 2025-05-31Awaiting agency response
  11. 2025-05-30Awaiting agency response
  12. 2025-05-30Awaiting agency response
Show what each request asked for, as the requester wrote it

These titles are quoted from OPRAmachine exactly as the requester typed them. They are the requester's words, not this site's, and some describe what the requester believed or suspected. Nothing here has been established as fact.

File your own records request

Anyone can request records from this municipality under the Open Public Records Act. This link opens a request on OPRAmachine, pre-filled with a neutral starting point you can edit or replace before you send it. The request, and any response, will be published there.

File an OPRA request about this department

See every request filed to Paterson City on OPRAmachine.

What this section can and can't tell you

  • A request is not a finding. Every entry records what a member of the public asked for. None of it establishes that an agency did anything, and none of it is an allegation this site is making.
  • Statuses come from the requester, not the agency. On OPRAmachine the person who filed the request classifies the response they got, so “successful” means they said they got what they asked for. It is not the agency's word and not an adjudication.
  • Request volume is not a measure of misconduct. A long list usually reflects public interest, local journalism, or one determined requester. A short list usually means few people have asked.
  • This covers OPRAmachine only. Most OPRA requests in New Jersey are filed directly with agencies and never appear here, so this is a floor, not a total.
  • It is frozen at 12 July 2026. The figures come from a snapshot of OPRAmachine taken on that date and nothing refreshes them, so anything filed since is missing. Treat every number here as a lower bound that is only getting further out of date.
  • The count is an undercount, by design. Requests to Paterson City are sorted by subject line, because that custodian also handles permits, property, and code enforcement. A request that is genuinely about the police but carries a vague subject line, and many do read only “OPRA Request,” is not counted here. The sorting is this site's own reading of the request titles, not a fact from the source, and it is deliberately cautious: it would rather miss a police request than show you somebody's building permit.

The match between this OPRAmachine body and this department is this site's inference, not a certified mapping. If it is wrong, we will remove it: corrections.

Questions and answers

What is a summary of Paterson Police Department's internal affairs and discipline record?

Paterson Police Department named 187 officers in internal affairs cases in 2025 across 292 investigations, a rate of 156.1 per 100 officers. That is above the Passaic County median of 125 and the 125.9 median for municipal police, and a rate that high can reflect a heavier volume of misconduct or a department that documents more of what is reported to it. Of the 292 investigations detailed for 2025, 107 reported sustained complaints. Excessive Force was the leading allegation category, with Other Departmental Rule Violation and Other Criminal Violation also prominent. Allegations are not findings. Seventeen major discipline records appear across the 2020-2025 releases, in every year from 2020 through 2025, including two terminations. Paterson received a D on the report card, at the 75th percentile among 93 peers in the 60+ officers group, a high-confidence grade.

How many internal affairs investigations did Paterson Police Department report in 2025?

Paterson Police Department reported 292 internal affairs investigations in 2025, according to New Jersey Attorney General data. 187 distinct officers were named in that year's IA investigations.

How many major discipline records does Paterson Police Department have?

Paterson Police Department has 17 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 officers does Paterson Police Department have?

Paterson Police Department reported 412 full-time sworn officers to the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census for 2025, 15.5% of them female. That is 2.57 sworn officers per 1,000 residents. This is a different measurement from the "officers named in IA cases" figure elsewhere on this page, which counts distinct officers in that year's internal affairs investigations, not total staffing.

What military surplus equipment has Paterson Police Department received through the 1033 program?

Paterson Police Department received 25 recorded line items of surplus military equipment through the Defense Department's 1033 program between 1994 and 2000, with a total recorded value of $3,450 (original DoD acquisition cost, not current or market value). The largest category by recorded value was: Guns, through 30mm. Transfers are as recorded by the Defense Logistics Agency as of 2026-06-30; equipment acquired through the program is not necessarily still held.

What is the total recorded value of the 1033 equipment Paterson Police Department received?

The surplus equipment recorded for Paterson Police Department under the 1033 program totals $3,450 in original DoD acquisition cost, of which $3,450 is in categories this site classes as tactical (25 of 25 line items). These are original-cost figures at the time of transfer, not current or market value.

How many deaths during police encounters are recorded for Paterson Police Department?

The independent Fatal Encounters dataset contains 17 records naming Paterson Police Department, from 2001 through 2021. 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.

What does Paterson Police Department pay its officers compared with local school staff?

The median pensionable salary for the 400 active Paterson Police Department officers in the NJ Treasury pension file is $107,625. The median for the 2,165 TPAF-enrolled staff at PATERSON BD OF ED is $96,825, a ratio of 1.11x. Against the Passaic County school-staff median the ratio is 1.20x. These are pensionable base salaries: they exclude overtime, stipends, longevity and leave payouts for both groups, and a school contract year and a police work year are different lengths. TPAF covers certificated school staff, not only classroom teachers.

Sources

  1. [1]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 2454. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
  2. [2]DoD 1033 Program transfers (LESO Public Information), New Jersey sheet. Defense Logistics Agency (U.S. Department of Defense). LESO Public Information: DISP_AllStatesAndTerritories, quarterly file as of 2026-06-30; recorded ship dates 1993-2026. Retrieved 2026-07-10. https://www.dla.mil/Disposition-Services/Offers/Law-Enforcement/Public-Information/ ↩
  3. [3]YourMoney Active Pension Members (PFRS/SPRS subset) and YourMoney Active Pension Members (TPAF subset, names removed). New Jersey Department of the Treasury. Both snapshots as of March 31, 2026. Derived from the public YourMoney Active Pension Members dataset, https://www.yourmoney.nj.gov/. Figures are computed by this site from as-reported pensionable salaries; the row-by-row account of what entered each figure is published at /data/pay-comparison.json. ↩
  4. [4]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/ ↩
  5. [5]Records-request activity for Paterson City. OPRAmachine (opramachine.com), an independent public-records platform. Publicly visible requests only. Point-in-time snapshot taken 2026-07-12 from a database export dated 2026-07-11. Not updated after that date; see opramachine.com for current activity. ↩
  6. [6]New Jersey Internal Affairs Officers, 2024-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Officer counts summed across every Paterson PD row. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
  7. [7]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.
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  13. [13]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1435. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
  14. [14]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 1943. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
  15. [15]New Jersey Internal Affairs Agency Totals, 2021-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Sheet1", row 918. Snapshot retrieved 2026-06-09. ↩
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  17. [17]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 Paterson PD row for 2025; row 1 is the header. ↩
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  20. [20]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 Paterson PD row for 2023. ↩
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  22. [22]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 Paterson PD row for 2025. ↩
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  24. [24]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. ↩
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  40. [40]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2657. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
  41. [41]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2922. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩