Lakewood Police Department terminated Officer Rusk after its Internal Affairs Bureau received a complaint on January 27, 2023, that he had left an extra-duty assignment without supervisor approval and then submitted for payment he was not entitled to. During the investigation, Rusk was found to be untruthful and was removed from the department. He appealed, but on October 28, 2024, the Office of Administrative Law upheld the removal, and on November 27, 2024, the New Jersey Civil Service Commission issued a Final Administrative Action supporting it.
On January 27, 2023 the Internal Affairs Bureau received a complaint the Officer Rusk had left an extra duty assignment without obtaining supervisor approval and then submitting for payment for which he was not entitled to. While conducting the internal investigation, Rusk was found to be untrithful and as a result terminated from the Department. Officer Rusk took it to appeal. On October 28, 2024 the Office of Administartive Law upheld he removal and on November 27, 2024 the NJ Civil Service Commission issued a Final Administartive Action in support of the removal.
Similar records
AnalysisComputed by this site from shared agency, year, charge category, and sanction outcome. Not a legal or factual equivalence.
No confident pension match found. This officer's record shows a termination; a terminated officer would not have an active PFRS/SPRS record at this agency, which is one reason no match may exist here. 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. Other general possibilities include insufficient vesting, a role not covered by PFRS or SPRS, a deferred or vested status not reflected in a current snapshot, or a data-matching limitation. See methodology for how these matches are made and what is withheld.
Questions and answers
What is a summary of Joseph Rusk's major discipline record?
Lakewood Police Department terminated Officer Rusk after its Internal Affairs Bureau received a complaint on January 27, 2023, that he had left an extra-duty assignment without supervisor approval and then submitted for payment he was not entitled to. During the investigation, Rusk was found to be untruthful and was removed from the department. He appealed, but on October 28, 2024, the Office of Administrative Law upheld the removal, and on November 27, 2024, the New Jersey Civil Service Commission issued a Final Administrative Action supporting it.
What is Joseph Rusk's major discipline record at Lakewood Police Department?
Joseph Rusk has one major discipline record at Lakewood Police Department in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2024. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
Does Joseph Rusk's record show a termination?
Yes. At least one of Joseph Rusk's major discipline records shows a termination, reported for 2024.
How large is Lakewood Police Department, the department Joseph Rusk worked for?
Lakewood Police Department reported 189 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. This is department-level context from the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census, not a statement about Joseph Rusk individually.
Sources
[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1230. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]FBI Law Enforcement Employees (LEE), New Jersey subset. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Row 8518. Derived from the public Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) / Police Employee Data dataset (1960-2025), https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/. ↩