4 Morris Township Cops Attended Controversial Police Training

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, NJ — Four Morris Township police officers attended a law-enforcement conference that was accused of glorifying unconstitutional tactics and denigrating women and minorities.

Nearly 1,000 officers nationwide—including 240 from New Jersey—attended the 2021 Street Cop Training conference in Atlantic City, according to a scathing report published Dec. 6 by the state comptroller's office.

The Morris Township Police Department was among 54 agencies that sent police to the conference in Atlantic City, which allegedly taught unconstitutional policing tactics, glorified violence and insulted women and people of color, according to the comptroller's report.

Police Chief Robert Shearer provided the township's response to acting state comptroller Kevin D. Walsh about the training program and how much the township paid for it in response to a Patch request for comment.

The conference fees had an approximate cost of $1,500 for the four officers to be sent, Shearer said.

Nearly 1,000 police officers from across the country attended the conference, and the majority of the officers had their attendance paid for by their public employers, spending at least $75,000.

The attendance costs pale in comparison to potential lawsuits that could arise from excessive force, unlawful searches and seizures, harassment, and discrimination, Walsh said.

Speakers and instructors made more than 100 discriminatory and harassing remarks during the conference, including references to speakers' genitalia, lewd gestures, and demeaning quips about women and minorities, according to investigators. Instructors also glorified violence, promoted the use of unconstitutional policing tactics during traffic stops, and encouraged a militaristic, "warrior" approach to law enforcement, the report says.

• Read more: 240 NJ Officers Completed Controversial Training With Tax Dollars: OSC

None of the attending officers complained about the training, the comptroller's investigation found.

The training was run by Street Cop Training, a private company headquartered in East Windsor. The company has issued an apology for any “inappropriate or offensive language” used at the workshops. However, Street Cop says the comptroller's office is wrong about several of its claims, including the assertion that the training may have been “unconstitutional.”

“While we were painted as the bad guys, we are in fact the good guys, creating better, more well-trained police officers for a country that expects the best from their men and women in blue—and everybody in this profession knows that,” Street Cop Training founder Dennis Benigno said.

The company annually conducts 40 to 45 courses in New Jersey, training more than 2,000 New Jersey state and local law enforcement officers every year.

Walsh says the videos that have emerged from the 2021 training show more regulation is needed when it comes to police training conducted by private companies.

“The fact that the training undermined nearly a decade of police reforms—and New Jersey dollars paid for it—is outrageous,” Walsh said.

You can read the full report here. See a list of the New Jersey police agencies named in the report here.

Police Chief's Full Statement

Read Shearer's full statement below on the training and the Morris Township officers' attendance:

"Since becoming Chief of Police in July of 2022 I have ensured that all officers received training in accordance with the Attorney General’s Guidelines and in accordance with the state's best practices. Upon receiving the report from the Office of State Comptroller, I ensured all officers received training specific to personal conduct, professionalism, reasonable suspicion, and racial profiling. I can ensure that Morris Township looks forward to any future guidance from state offices and supports certification of training programs so that we can send our officers to the best trainings possible," Shearer said.

With reporting by Eric Kiefer, Patch Staff