NJ Chief Accused Of Drugging Cops Shouldn't Retain Power, Lawyer Says

NORTH BERGEN, NJ — After a group of North Bergen police officers accused Chief Robert Farley Jr. of abuses ranging from defecating in department offices to drugging their coffee, their lawyer has asked the New Jersey Attorney General's Office to take control of the department.

Attorney Patrick Toscano of Fairfield officially requested New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin take over the North Bergen Police Department Wednesday, saying that the officers now fear for their safety.

The attorney general's office told Patch on Thursday that it could not comment on the issue.

"The Attorney General’s Office cannot comment on any proposed or requested supersession of a law enforcement agency," said a spokesperson for the attorney general on Thursday, "and has a longstanding practice of neither confirming nor denying the existence of pending investigations."

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office told Patch they were aware of the allegations but that they were referring any questions to the state.

The township of North Bergen issued a new statement Thursday afternoon, saying that Chief Farley's money-saving reductions to police overtime had angered officers.

"We would urge all parties not to rush to judgement or engage in sensationalistic news coverage," the township said.

The Claims

On behalf of five officers in the department, Toscano sent out notices of tort claims in January and March to the town of North Bergen. The notices are a precursor to a possible lawsuit.

The claims against the chief range from putting firecrackers under chairs to more serious actions, such as chasing one officer around a room and stabbing his penis with a hypodermic needle.

The accusations made news around the country on Wednesday, with one news network referring to the police department as "Animal House."

Claims include allegations by various officers that the chief:

• Chased one officer around a room and stabbed him with a hypodermic needle, causing his penis to bleed
• Dropped drugs believed to be Viagra and Adderall into the office coffee

• Placed hot peppers in offers' food and heating them up in the office microwave, which resulted in one officer being taken to the hospital. (The claim also says that officers were told to lie and say the situation was an accident with pepper spray.)
• Demanded that one officer write part of research paper for his daughter's history class about the evolution of policing, even though it took the officer away from his work duties
• Defecated on office floors, leaving others to clean it up
• Shaved onto officers' desks
• Took officers' keys during the workday and set off their car alarms
• Putt ink on doorknobs and firecrackers under chairs
• Smashed a computer monitor in a rage because too many people were entering his office
• Allowed officers to take guns out of the armory, including an AK-47, for no reason
• Allowed officers to inflate their work hours.

Responses

Toscana's firm is representing Lt. Alex Guzman, Officer Michael F. Derin, Officer Michael A. Derin, Officer Rasheed Siyam, and Officer Christopher Bowen, according to the legal paperwork.

"Our clients now genuinely fear for their on-the-job safety," Toscano wrote his letter to Platkin on Wednesday, "so request is herein made that the New Jersey State Attorney General’s Office immediately take over the day-to-day operations of the North Bergen Police Department."

A spokesperson for the town of North Bergen responded on Wednesday by calling the potential lawsuits "blatant cash grabs."

Thursday's statement from the township elaborated:

"When Chief Farley took office last year," the response said, "he undertook an initiative to reduce the amount of police overtime expenditures and create a more fair and equitable process for how extra duty detail assignments are distributed amongst officers. Those reforms have led to a reduction in overtime spending of approximately $1 million per year. They have also significantly reduced the amount of extra compensation made by several officers, including Lt. Guzman who made over $150,000 in overtime and extra duty work in 2023, and SLEO Derin whose additional compensation has been cut in half due to Chief Farley's reforms. It's highly suspicious that these allegations have only come to light after Chief Farley instituted these reforms, which were designed to protect North Bergen taxpayers and ensure that all officers have access to extra duty assignments."

The statement concluded by deferring to the State Attorney General.