Chief Sean Smith separated from employment with the Hillsdale Police Department while an internal affairs matter was pending. On July 11, 2024, at police headquarters, Smith made a bias comment that several officers overheard, referring to himself and another white officer as the lightest members of the department and asking an African American officer whether he would compare skin tones with a newly hired African American officer. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office investigation sustained the charges, and Smith separated before discipline was imposed.
SUMMARY and CONCLUSIONS REPORTS Officer’s Name: Chief Sean Smith Internal Affairs Case No.: 2024-002 Summary of Allegations On 7/11/2024, while in Hillsdale Police Headquarters, SMITH made a bias comment that was observed and overheard by several other officers in the Police Department. Specifically, SMITH referred to himself and another white officer as being the ‘lightest/whitest’ member of the Police Department. SMITH then asked another African American officer who was present if he was going to compare skin tones with a newly hired African American officer who was not present, to determine ‘How black you guys are.’ SMITH then held out his forearm to demonstrate what the two officers would do to see ‘who is blacker’ Summary of Factual Findings The investigation conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office (BCPO) determined that SMITH made a bias comment to a member of the Hillsdale Police Department. Allegation #1 – N.J.S.A. 40a:14-147 Finding: Sustained Allegation #2 - Rules and Regulation Violations/Statutory Misconduct 1. 2:1.3: Police Officers 2. 3:1.1: Standards of Conduct 3. 3:1.7: Obedience to Laws, Ordinances, Rules, and Written Directives 4. 3:7.4: Civil Rights 5. 3:7.18: Prohibited Activity On-Duty 6. 3:11.5: Impartial Attitude / 7. 3:11.6: Disparaging Comments Regarding Protected Personal Characteristics Finding: Sustained Discipline Imposed: Smith separated from employment with the Hillsdale Police Department prior to discipline being imposed.
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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.
Questions and answers
What is a summary of Sean Smith's major discipline record?
Chief Sean Smith separated from employment with the Hillsdale Police Department while an internal affairs matter was pending. On July 11, 2024, at police headquarters, Smith made a bias comment that several officers overheard, referring to himself and another white officer as the lightest members of the department and asking an African American officer whether he would compare skin tones with a newly hired African American officer. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office investigation sustained the charges, and Smith separated before discipline was imposed.
What is Sean Smith's major discipline record at Hillsdale Police Department?
Sean Smith has one major discipline record at Hillsdale Police Department in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2025. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
What is Sean Smith's pension on record?
Sean Smith's reported monthly pension allowance is $12,191.66, from New Jersey Treasury YourMoney data, matched to this officer at high confidence. Sean Smith has 32 years, 10 months of reported service.
How large is Hillsdale Police Department, the department Sean Smith worked for?
Hillsdale Police Department reported 26 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. This is department-level context from the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census, not a statement about Sean Smith individually.
Sources
[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 77. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]YourMoney Retired Pension Members (PFRS/SPRS subset). New Jersey Department of the Treasury. Row 371955 (member 44367601), snapshot as of March 31, 2026. Derived from the public YourMoney Retired Pension Members dataset, https://www.yourmoney.nj.gov/. ↩
[3]FBI Law Enforcement Employees (LEE), New Jersey subset. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Row 8156. Derived from the public Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) / Police Employee Data dataset (1960-2025), https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/. ↩