Detective Richard Dow of the North Plainfield Police Department was terminated in 2025 following a domestic matter that began on March 28, 2024 in Piscataway. A temporary restraining order was granted against Dow on April 1, 2024, and a final restraining order followed on April 17, 2024. After his appeal was denied on October 27, 2025, the Police Training Commission revoked his police license, and Dow was terminated after a departmental hearing on December 11, 2025. His record also lists a 512-day suspension.
On March 28,2024 Det. Dow was involved in a verbal domestic dispute with a “person who constitutes a victim under New Jersey’s Prevent of Domestic Violence Act” in Piscataway N.J. On April 1, 2024 the “person who constitutes a victim under New Jersey’s Prevent of Domestic Violence Act” was granted a Temporary Restraining Order against Det. Dow in Middlesex County Family Court. Det. Dow was immediately placed on modified duty as a result of the protective order. On April 17, 2024 Det. Dow appeared in Middlesex County Family Court as a defendant in a Final Restraining Order hearing. The “person who constitutes a victim under New Jersey’s Prevent of Domestic Violence Act” was granted a F.R.O. on that date in Superior Court. Det. Dow was suspended as a result of the F.R.O. and he filed an appeal with the Court. The F.R.O appeal was denied by the Court in an Appellate legal opinion decided on October 27, 2025. The Police Training Commission then revoked Det. Dow’s Police License on October 29, 2025 due to the Final Restraining Order. Det. Dow was then terminated from the North Plainfield Police Department subsequent to a departmental hearing held on December 11, 2025.
Similar records
AnalysisComputed by this site from shared agency, year, charge category, and sanction outcome. Not a legal or factual equivalence.
Thomas Kirse · North Plainfield Police Department · 2025
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 Richard Dow's major discipline record?
Detective Richard Dow of the North Plainfield Police Department was terminated in 2025 following a domestic matter that began on March 28, 2024 in Piscataway. A temporary restraining order was granted against Dow on April 1, 2024, and a final restraining order followed on April 17, 2024. After his appeal was denied on October 27, 2025, the Police Training Commission revoked his police license, and Dow was terminated after a departmental hearing on December 11, 2025. His record also lists a 512-day suspension.
What is Richard Dow's major discipline record at North Plainfield Police Department?
Richard Dow has one major discipline record at North Plainfield Police Department in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2025. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
Does Richard Dow's record show a termination?
Yes. At least one of Richard Dow's major discipline records shows a termination, reported for 2025.
How large is North Plainfield Police Department, the department Richard Dow worked for?
North Plainfield Police Department reported 47 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. This is department-level context from the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census, not a statement about Richard Dow individually.
Sources
[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 525. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]FBI Law Enforcement Employees (LEE), New Jersey subset. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Row 8579. Derived from the public Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) / Police Employee Data dataset (1960-2025), https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/. ↩