Senior Correctional Police Officer Michael Kowalski was terminated by the Dept Of Corrections. On March 2, 2023, Kowalski was arrested for shoplifting at the Vineland Home Depot after attempting to leave the store without paying for $307.54 worth of merchandise. Kowalski did not report the incident to the department in a timely manner and waited 7 days to report it. Sustained charges included conduct unbecoming an employee and shoplifting.
N.J.A.C. 4A: 2-2.3(a) 6. an employee N.J.A.C. 4A: 2-2.3(a) 12. . C11: an employee. E1: Violations of a rule
regulation
policy
procedure
order or administrative decision. N.J.S.A. 2C: 20-11. Shoplifting.
Separated while IA pending
No
Synopsis as reported by the agency
On March 2, 2023, Officer Kowalski was arrested for shoplifting at the Vineland Home Depot and attempting to leave the store without paying for $307.54 worth of merchandise. Officer Kowalski did not report this incident to NJDOC in a timely manner, and waited 7 days to report the incident.
Sustained charge(s): N.J.A.C. 4A: 2-2.3(a) 12. Other sufficient cause. A9: Refusal or failure to work overtime without a reasonable excuse. E1: Violations of a…
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
Other officers at Department Of Corrections
433 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 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.
Cite this page
Police Transparency NJ, "Michael Kowalski, Department Of Corrections," last updated 2026-09-28, https://policetransparencynj.com/officers/michael-kowalski-dept-of-corrections/. Source records: New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Questions and answers
What is a summary of Michael Kowalski's major discipline record?
Senior Correctional Police Officer Michael Kowalski was terminated by the Dept Of Corrections. On March 2, 2023, Kowalski was arrested for shoplifting at the Vineland Home Depot after attempting to leave the store without paying for $307.54 worth of merchandise. Kowalski did not report the incident to the department in a timely manner and waited 7 days to report it. Sustained charges included conduct unbecoming an employee and shoplifting.
What is Michael Kowalski's major discipline record at Department Of Corrections?
Michael Kowalski has one major discipline record at Department Of Corrections in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2024. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
Does Michael Kowalski's record show a termination?
Yes. At least one of Michael Kowalski's major discipline records shows a termination, reported for 2024.
How large is Department Of Corrections, the department Michael Kowalski worked for?
Department Of Corrections reported 4,741 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 Kowalski individually.
Sources
[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1391. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]FBI Law Enforcement Employees (LEE), New Jersey subset. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Row 8641. Derived from the public Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) / Police Employee Data dataset (1960-2025), https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/. ↩