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Trenton police under new scrutiny over use-of-force tactics
Clip: 2/5/2024 | 4m 10sVideo has Closed Captions
Bodycam footage of January incident involving law enforcement and a homeless man
The Trenton Police Department is once again facing scrutiny over use-of-force tactics, with a new incident coming less than four months after the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation into the department's practices. This time, the capital city’s NAACP chapter is speaking out against an early January incident involving law enforcement and a homeless man.
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NJ Spotlight News is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS
NJ Spotlight News
Trenton police under new scrutiny over use-of-force tactics
Clip: 2/5/2024 | 4m 10sVideo has Closed Captions
The Trenton Police Department is once again facing scrutiny over use-of-force tactics, with a new incident coming less than four months after the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation into the department's practices. This time, the capital city’s NAACP chapter is speaking out against an early January incident involving law enforcement and a homeless man.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThe Trenton Police Department is facing scrutiny over use of force tactics again less than four months after the Department of Justice launched a federal civil rights investigation into the unit over the practice officers have been accused of routinely using excessive force and illegally stopping pedestrians this time the Capital City's NAACP chapter is speaking out against an early January incident involving law enforcement and a homeless man that Advocates say shows the city is failing its most vulnerable residents Ted Goldberg has the story and I don't want to do the report I don't want to lock you up I don't want to put you in I want you to grab your and walk the tell my brother say don't care a Trenton police officer has come under Fire for how he interacted with a homeless man last month body cam footage shows the policeman shoving a homeless man during an argument in the video you can hear officers shouting at the man who says he was visiting his brother's apartment apartment this was an officer who valued his own time over that of a man who was clearly in need of help you judge a society by how well or how poorly it treats his most vulnerable citizens and what we saw in that video from that officer shows us we have a whole lot of work to do in the soul of the city of Trent such Behavior has the chilling effect of eroding trust between law enforcement and the community that they serve Trenton's chapter of the NAACP spoke today and called for Mayor Reed Gusciora to investigate the footage and take that police officer away from working the streets we are not against Law Enforcement Officers they are a part of the fabric of how we repair rebuild and restore our communities but what we are against is officers who are rogue in wealthier white communities like Pennington Hopewell Robinsville Princeton none of these residents would ever be treated this way Police director Steve Wilson says the officer's Behavior wasn't ideal but he doesn't think any laws were broken the officer could have been uh a little less rude at one point but but he didn't do anything wrong Wilson says the policeman started becoming aggressive with the homeless man because he didn't follow the officer's orders every property owner has um a right to be secure in their property and this guy was trespassing the officer was trying to convince him to leave he would not leave behind a story of his brother living in the upstairs apartment the NAACP is calling for Trenton to change how it responds to distress calls even though this was originally a call about illegal dumping Advocates say community group should be responding rather than police officers something Wilson doesn't necessarily disagree with so in instances which are quality of life mental health substance use issues it's better to have brothers like these showing up who care about people we can't force people to go to crisis you know we can't force people to take shelter with a service you know we can't do that but we offer it and that's that's specifically why um I created the daytime task force two years ago other cities have seen success with arrive together a program that pairs mental health professionals with policemen for certain 911 calls Wilson says he'd like to see Trenton be a part of that but you got to have the resources to do that you know and so I don't I'm not in charge of those resources but it would certainly be explored by me and I'm not against it at all um it's not something that I that um I didn't hear of um it's something that I did inquire about and if I can get it here then then I'll be glad to do it Wilson says supervisors have reviewed the body cam footage and he doesn't think the officers should be disciplined for his actions something sure to disappoint Advocates who are calling for consequences in Trenton I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight [Music] news
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