Major discipline · 2023[1]
Suspended 20 days- Rank as reported
- Sergeant
- Sustained charge(s)
- Hoboken Police Department Rules and Regulations: ; ; Failure to Supervise. New Jersey Administrative Code Violations: , , or Failure to Perform Duties; ; .
- Separated while IA pending
- No
Plain-language summary (this site, from the cited record only)
Sergeant Steven Kranz was suspended for 20 days by the Hoboken Police Department in 2023. Officers dispatched to a motor vehicle accident found the driver unconscious and in cardiac arrest. When Kranz arrived, instead of assuming control of the scene he took a traffic point, a task that could have been delegated. After the tour commander took control and asked Kranz to join the officers, Kranz questioned the lieutenant's inquiry and persisted in the presence of subordinate officers and the public.
Synopsis as reported by the agency
Officers were dispatched to the scene of a motor vehicle accident. Upon arriving they observed there was significant damage to the vehicle and other parked vehicles. Upon attempting to make contact with the driver it was quickly determined that the male driver was unconscious and in cardiac arrest. After hearing numerous officers dispatched to the scene and their transmissions related to the active scene it was then that Sgt. Kranz transmitted his acknowledgment of and response to the scene. Once arriving, instead of assuming immediate control of the scene, Sgt. Kranz took a traffic point to redirect traffic away from the scene, a task that could have and should have been delegated to a patrol officer so that he can better manage the scene in its entirety. Some time later, the tour commander (a lieutenant) arrived on the scene and took immediate control, directing officers and coordinating resources and responses. The lieutenant asked for Sgt. Kranz's location which was provided and then asked him to join the other officers on the scene. Sgt. Kranz upon arriving to the scene near the accident immediately approached the lieutenant and began to question him as to the reason for his inquiry about his location. The lieutenant attempted several times to inform Sgt. Kranz that it was not the appropriate time nor location for that conversation considering the scene was still active. Sgt. Kranz persisted and began to question the lieutenant's actions in the presense of subordinate officers and the public.