Hoboken Police Department reported that Lieutenant Michael Costello, III was demoted in 2025. After another police agency reported a possible shooting homicide in Hoboken, Costello failed to take critical steps to properly investigate and doubted the report despite its law enforcement source. That delay slowed the location of the victim's remains, and Costello did not ensure mandatory notifications were made in a timely manner, leaving division commanders unaware of the report.
Following a report from another police agency of a possible shooting homicide that reportedly took place in Hoboken it was determined that Lt. Costello failed to take critical steps to properly investigate the report. The investigation revealed that Lt. Costello (admittedly) doubted the legitimacy of the report despite it coming from another law enforcemnt agency. The lack of meaningful steps to investigate resulted in a delay in locating the remains of the victim and thus delaying the investigation overall. Lt. Costello also failed to ensure that mandatory notifications were made in a timely manner which resulted in division commanders not being aware of a credibly reported possible homicide within city limits.
Similar records
AnalysisComputed by this site from shared agency, year, charge category, and sanction outcome. Not a legal or factual equivalence.
Sustained charge(s): Untruthfulness, Computer & Network Use violation, Pursuing personal relationships, Conduct unbecoming of a Sheriff's Officer, NJAC…
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Emerson Lewis · Delaware River Port Authority · 2025
Demoted
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Other officers at Hoboken Police Department
15 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.
Questions and answers
What is a summary of Michael Costello, III's major discipline record?
Hoboken Police Department reported that Lieutenant Michael Costello, III was demoted in 2025. After another police agency reported a possible shooting homicide in Hoboken, Costello failed to take critical steps to properly investigate and doubted the report despite its law enforcement source. That delay slowed the location of the victim's remains, and Costello did not ensure mandatory notifications were made in a timely manner, leaving division commanders unaware of the report.
What is Michael Costello, III's major discipline record at Hoboken Police Department?
Michael Costello, III has one major discipline record at Hoboken Police Department in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2025. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
How large is Hoboken Police Department, the department Michael Costello, III worked for?
Hoboken Police Department reported 139 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. This is department-level context from the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census, not a statement about Michael Costello, III individually.
Sources
[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 351. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]FBI Law Enforcement Employees (LEE), New Jersey subset. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Row 8342. Derived from the public Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) / Police Employee Data dataset (1960-2025), https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/. ↩