Officer record · As reported by the employing agency
Newark Police Department · 1 record · 2023
Suspended 10 days2023 · as reported
Officer Cruz unholstered his department-issued firearm and permitted his friend to handle the weapon, which resulted in the friend pulling the trigger and discharging a round. Newark PD sustained charges of disobedience of orders, handling of firearms, conduct in public or private and police image, and suspended Cruz for 10 days in 2023.
Major discipline · 2023[1]
Suspended 10 daysSynopsis as reported by the agency
Officer Cruz unholstered his department-issued firearm and permitted his friend to handle the weapon, resulting in the friend pulling the trigger and discharging a round.
Background: What a suspension actually means in New Jersey police discipline.
Erica Donald · Newark Police Department · 2023
Suspended 9 daysSustained charge(s): Disobedience of Orders
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
Aleem Johnson · Newark Police Department · 2023
Suspended 8 daysSustained charge(s): Neglect of Duty & Loafing on Duty
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
Alonso Vinueza · Newark Police Department · 2023
Suspended 15 daysSustained charge(s): Disobedience of Orders
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
Richard Pacelli · Newark Police Department · 2023
Suspended 15 daysSustained charge(s): Disobedience of Orders
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
Richard Pisano · Newark Police Department · 2023
Suspended 10 daysSustained charge(s): Disobedience of Orders & Inefficiency or Incompetence of Superior Officers
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
74 other named officers with reported major discipline records at this agency. Major discipline is final and post-appeal, as reported by the agency.
No confident pension match found. This site links a pension record to a named officer only when the name and the exact employing agency both match a New Jersey Treasury record. Where that bar is not met, nothing is shown rather than a guess. See methodology for how these matches are made and what is withheld.
Police Transparency NJ, "Jose Cruz, Newark Police Department," last updated 2026-09-28, https://policetransparencynj.com/officers/jose-cruz-newark-pd/. Source records: New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Officer Cruz unholstered his department-issued firearm and permitted his friend to handle the weapon, which resulted in the friend pulling the trigger and discharging a round. Newark PD sustained charges of disobedience of orders, handling of firearms, conduct in public or private and police image, and suspended Cruz for 10 days in 2023.
Jose Cruz has one major discipline record at Newark Police Department in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2023. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
Newark Police Department reported 1,119 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. This is department-level context from the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census, not a statement about Jose Cruz individually.