Hudson County Jail, Sheriff's Officers Named In AG's Report

Secaucus NJ

12 August, 2021

8:43 PM

Description

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — On Tuesday, for the first time ever, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office publicly released the names of all New Jersey police officers who were subject to major discipline between June 15, 2020 and December 31, 2020. "Major discipline" is defined as police officers who were terminated, demoted or suspended for more than five days. Four guards at the Hudson County Jail were on the list, and five who work for the Hudson County Sheriff were on it, as well. Hudson County Correctional officers: Sergeant Stephen Gill suspended for five days in 2020 for entering the jail wearing his duty weapon, "compromising the safety and security of the jail," read the report.Sergeant La-Toya Hobson suspended for 10 days in 2020 for wearing her duty weapon while entering the jail.Officer Niove Ramirez suspended for 10 days for allowing inmates to exit their cells uncuffed, and enter a cell not assigned to them. Officer Ramirez also allowed inmates to stand behind her uncuffed. A further check revealed that Ramirez' log book contained missing entries and security checks that exceeded the thirty minute checks as required by General Housing policy.Officer Aida Ortiz was suspended for 133 days because her driver's license was suspended during the following time periods: August 19, 2019 - March 29, 2016; June 3, 2016 - March 5, 2018; April 27, 2018 - April 17, 2019; August 2019 - May 26, 2019. (This time period includes the entire year of 2017.) During these periods of time, Ortiz was assigned usage of a county car 133 times. Hudson County Sheriff's officers: Officer Jose Gonzalez suspended for 15 days for failing to take police action.Officer Victor Silva suspended for 20 days for allegedly abusing the sick leave policy.Officer Nicole Buzinkai suspended for 90 days for allegedly abusing the sick leave policy.Investigator Paul Newman terminated for driving an agency vehicle on more than one occasion, while his driver's license was suspended.Officer Jasmine Cruz suspended for 90 days for divulging the contents of a court proceeding to another party that was not present in the courtroom.Officer Gabriela Burgos suspended for 10 days for being at fault in a motor vehicle crash. This is the first time information like this has been made public. It was released in accordance with the Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive 2021-6, which former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal made two months ago, in light of this summer's New Jersey Supreme Court decision authorizing the public release of certain police disciplinary information. The names of any police officer in New Jersey who received "major discipline" will now be made public in a yearly report. This includes county sheriff's officers, New Jersey State Police and correctional officers who work in the state's jails and prisons. The law change is meant to be more transparent with the public, to let the public know how their tax dollars are being spent and also to improve police-community relations. "We are releasing this information not to shame or embarrass individual officers, but to provide the same type of transparency and accountability in policing that New Jersey mandates in other essential professions," said Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck on Tuesday. "The vast majority of New Jersey's law enforcement officers serve the public with honor and integrity, doing the right thing day-in and day-out for the communities they serve, so I take no joy in putting this information out. But we are doing this because it is an important and necessary step to build greater public trust while promoting professionalism in law enforcement." You can find the entire 2020 disciplinary report here: https://www.nj.gov/oag/iapp/do... Be the first to know. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: [email protected]