Officer record · As reported by the employing agency

Richard Pacelli

Newark Police Department · 3 records · 2020, 2023

About this data

Records on this page come from the Attorney General's major discipline releases: final, post-appeal discipline as reported by the employing agency. They are sustained charges, not allegations.
All figures are self-reported by agencies to the New Jersey Attorney General and shown as reported. Blank fields read "not reported," never "no."
Data is a yearly snapshot. Cases are not tracked across years, and major discipline appears only in the year it became final after all appeals.
In internal affairs data, allegations are not findings: many complaints end unfounded, exonerated, or not sustained.
Any compensation figure below comes from New Jersey Treasury pension data, a separate source from the discipline records. It is matched to this officer by name and employing agency at high confidence, not by certified identity.

Full caveats and definitions: methodology. To request a correction against the official record: corrections.

Major discipline · 2023^[1]

Suspended 15 days

Rank as reported: PO
Sustained charge(s): Disobedience of Orders
Separated while IA pending: not reported

Plain-language summary (this site, from the cited record only)

Officer Pacelli mistakenly removed a civilian from a car on the suspicion that it was stolen, then later discovered the vehicle was not stolen. He subsequently engaged in a pursuit of a motor vehicle solely for traffic violations, which breached the Newark Police Division pursuit policy. Newark PD sustained a charge of disobedience of orders and suspended Pacelli for 15 days in 2023.

Synopsis as reported by the agency

Officer Pacelli mistakenly removed a civilian from a car suspecting it was stolen, only to later discover that the vehicle was not stolen. Subsequently, the officer engaged in a pursuit of a motor vehicle solely for traffic violations, which breached the NPD pursuit policy.

Major discipline · 2023^[2]

Suspended 30 days

Rank as reported: PO
Sustained charge(s): Care of Property
Separated while IA pending: not reported

Plain-language summary (this site, from the cited record only)

Officer Pacelli was involved in a motor vehicle crash in which he lost his department-issued firearm. Newark PD sustained a charge of care of property and imposed a 30-day suspension in 2023.

Synopsis as reported by the agency

Officer Pacelli received a 30-day suspension due to his involvement in a motor vehicle crash where he lost his Department Issued Firearm.

Major discipline · 2020^[3]

Suspended 30 days

Rank as reported: Officer
Sustained charge(s): not applicable
Separated while IA pending: not applicable (collected 2023 and later)

Plain-language summary (this site, from the cited record only)

Officer Richard Pacelli received a 30-day suspension from the Newark Police Department in 2020 after he discharged a chemical agent against a prisoner inside the emergency room of a hospital. The agency did not report the sustained charges.

Synopsis as reported by the agency

Officer Pacelli discharged a chemical agent against a prisoner inside the emergency room of a hospital

Compensation and pension

Active member · NJ Treasury YourMoney^[4]

This site: records-based match

Base salary (pension basis): $136,802
Pension fund: Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS)
Reported years of service: 9 years

How to read this

The amount is as reported by the New Jersey Department of the Treasury in its YourMoney pension data, as of March 31, 2026. It is the pension-basis figure and may not include overtime, accrued leave, stipends, or other pay. The link between this officer and this pension record is a records-based match at high confidence (exact name and exact employing agency), not a certified identity. If it is wrong, we will remove it: corrections.

Sources

[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1667. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1672. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[3]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 2844. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[4]YourMoney Active Pension Members (PFRS/SPRS subset). New Jersey Department of the Treasury. Row 218659, snapshot as of March 31, 2026. Derived from the public YourMoney Active Pension Members dataset, https://www.yourmoney.nj.gov/. ↩