Tarnished reputation of Palisades Park Police Department takes another hit

PALISADES PARK — The reputation of the borough's police department has taken one hit after another in the last decade as it dealt with personnel suspensions, lawsuits, and the arrest of police officers all while undergoing a heavy turnover in leadership with six police chiefs during that time.

Some of the department's troubles go back even further than 10 years to the 1990s when some officers were found running a burglary ring that brought unwanted national attention to the department and the borough.

This week the department took another hit with the arrest of Police Officer David Chun .

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Chun, who had been placed on administrative leave last August after he was charged with two counts of simple assault, was charged Monday with 18 counts of assault of an adult female and endangering the welfare of two children from 2019 to 2023.

He wasn't the department's first officer to be arrested.

Palisades Park Police Department's 'culture of lawlessness'

An assistant U.S. attorney in 1998 said there was a "culture of lawlessness" in the borough's police department in the early 1990s when it was found some of its police officers were responsible for a burglary ring.

Since then, more officers in the department have been charged with theft , driving while intoxicated , possession of drugs and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

In 2022, a prisoner escape led to an investigation of the department by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. No criminal charges were filed in the prisoner escape incident, however the officer in charge at the time, Capt. Shawn Lee, retired as part of a settlement agreement and Lt. Alessandro Monteleone resigned.

In 2019, an independent review of the department ordered by town officials, called the police a rudderless agency with unclear rules, outdated internal affairs and disciplinary policies that break state guidelines with no clear chain of command.

Once more, borough officials hired security risk management firm Hillard Heintze to review the department following the collapse of a school security program that sought to staff school buildings with armed guards. The school board withdrew its agreement late last summer after a NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey investigation found borough officials did not collect resumes or do background checks on the nine retired police officers they hired.

The borough school board fired its attorney and terminated the school security agreement with the Borough Council after the program was suspended following that investigation.

Palisades Park police incidents rank higher than the norm

Palisades Park's police-involved incidents fall in a “higher tier” compared to other departments in the county and state, said Brian Higgins, former Bergen County police chief and a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

“You have to ask yourself why doesn’t anyone want to fix it?” Higgins said. “Palisades Park seems like a hands-off police department. Why is it so hands off?”

Other police departments that have experienced similar issues have been taken over by the county prosecutor’s department or in some extreme cases like Paterson, the state office of the attorney general.

“There are police departments not in as bad of shape as Palisades Park where the prosecutor's office comes in or the attorney general,” Higgins said. “It’s not good for taxpayers or policing.”

Report says department has heavy political influence, lack of leadership

An assessment conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office released in May 2023 found the department has heavy political influence and a lack of leadership and procedures.

The report found that most officers have contributed to or worked with political organizations within the borough and that those same officers believed the "political influences had done immense harm" to the department. Officers told Bergen County Prosecutor's Office investigators the influence has made it difficult to supervise, manage and appropriately discipline officers, as politics affected many of these decisions.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office began its assessment of the department in September 2022 after a jump in the number of investigatory and disciplinary issues. Investigators set out to review the department's operational and administrative processes and its compliance with law enforcement best practices, prosecutor's office directives and state attorney general's office guidelines, the assessment report said.

The report gave recommendations to the town and police department, but the prosecutor's office took no formal action.

No changes in the Palisades Park Police Department

Since the report was released, a civilian police director was hired. The police union and a councilman who was the chair of the police committee at the time spoke out against the appointment, saying there was a conflict of interest between the hire and a councilwoman.

A just voided promotions of the police chief and a captain after a lawsui t was brought up by the current mayor and council, saying the appointments were done improperly by a lame-duck mayor. After proceeding with the lawsuit and winning, the council reappointed the same officers to the positions.

Two sergeants filed lawsuits against the borough and former Officer in Charge Capt. Shawn Lee. One suit was filed against the borough, Mayor Chong "Paul" Kim and Councilman Suk Min and claimed the sergeant was overlooked for a promotion due to political interference and his refusal to participate in illegal activities.

Chun also filed a lawsuit against the borough and its police chief claiming he was retaliated against for a string of issues that began in 2018 involving his wife and her ex-husband, who is a Ridgefield police officer.

Nationally, Higgins said, policing is going through changes and the buzzwords are accountability, transparency and rebuilding trust.

“If you were a resident of Palisades Park, do you trust your police department? If you’re a cop who just wants to do your job, can you imagine what they’re feeling right now? These are now very big, glaring questions,” Higgins said.

Efforts to reach the department for a comment were unsuccessful.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Tarnished reputation of Palisades Park Police Department takes another hit