The Corruption Bureau serves as the lead office within the Department of Law & Public Safety for the investigation and prosecution of state criminal violations involving corruption and abuse of public trust, including bribery and corrupt influence, abuse of power by public servants, criminal misconduct by police officers, election fraud, government contract fraud, and the theft or misapplication of public resources throughout the State of New Jersey. OPIA has a statewide Corruption Tipline: 1-844-OPIA-TIP (1-844-674-2847) and Anti-Corruption Reporting website https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/office-of-public-integrity-accountability-contact/opia-report-corruption-form/

All information received through the Tipline can remain confidential.

Integrity Bureau. The Integrity Bureau includes the Conviction Review Unit (CRU), the Fatal Police Encounter Division (FPE) and Cold Case Network (CCN). The CRU and the CCN is led by former Certified Criminal Trial Attorney and public defender Patrice Bearden. The conviction review process begins with the convicted individual completing a “Request for Review” form. The prosecution must have occurred in the New Jersey Superior Court, Criminal Division. The conviction must be for an indictable offense. Individuals who are in custody and serving the sentence for based on the conviction at issue will have priority over individuals who have been released from custody. The application for review must be based on objectively credible and verifiable evidence of innocence. Cases are screened to determine which are appropriate for a full re-investigation. Individuals seeking a review must cooperate fully with the CRU. While the CRU accepts and reviews evidence from any bona fide source, the CRU cannot respond to inquiries regarding the status of a particular case.

Any exonerations that may result from these reviews may generate cold cases. Any cold case resulting from an exoneration will be investigated by the joint CCN task force.

Request for Review | SOLICITUD DE REVISIÓN POR LA UNIDAD DE REVISIÓN DE CONDENAS

The Fatal Police Encounters Division, led by experienced trial attorney Nicholas Kormann,  investigates any death of a civilian during an encounter with law enforcement, and deaths in-custody, under the Independent Prosecutor Directive.  The Directive outlines a ten-step process for conducting independent investigations of use-of-force and death-in-custody incidents:

1. Notification to Attorney General
2. Arrival of First Responders
3. Selection of Independent Investigator
4. Initial Investigation & Evidence Collection
5. Public Release of Incident Footage (if requested)
6. Completed Investigation
7. Independent Supervisory Review of Investigative Findings
8. Grand Jury Proceedings (if applicable)
9. Announcement of Criminal Charges or Declination
10. Referrals for Administrative Review

If the State Grand Jury returns an indictment against a law enforcement officer, FPE Deputy Attorneys General prosecute the resulting charges in the State trial courts. At the conclusion of these investigations and proceedings, pursuant to the Directive and SOPs, OPIA determines whether any officers should be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency (including OPIA’s SIB) for administrative review in accordance with the AG’s Internal Affairs Policy & Procedures. OPIA monitors any resulting review and takes such actions as are necessary to ensure that the review is completed in a timely fashion, and that appropriate actions are taken based on the results of the review.  OPIA’s standard operating procedures for grand jury presentations of investigations involving fatal police encounters are available here: OPIA Grand Jury SOPs

Special Investigations Bureau. The Special Investigations Bureau (SIB) conducts all internal affairs investigations involving law enforcement personnel of the Department of Law & Public Safety. In addition, the Special Investigations Bureau investigates allegations of serious misconduct by County Prosecutors and high-level law enforcement officials throughout the state. Further, the SIB assists the Attorney General in implementing the Internal Affairs Policies and Procedures and works with County Prosecutor’s Offices in reviewing and enhancing internal affairs functions in local police departments. Lastly, under the supervision of Mary Catherine Ryan, Director of Statewide Internal Affairs Initiatives, SIB develops and oversees all statewide training of Internal Affairs officers.

The SIB and the Office of Justice Data developed an Internal Affairs Dashboard which is accessible by the public at (www.njoag.gov/iadata).  The Dashboard contains data from every law enforcement agency in the State on all internal affairs investigations that were open at any point during the preceding calendar year, including those that originated in a prior year.  The Bureau and Office of Justice Data also developed a Major Discipline Report that contains the identity of each law enforcement officer in the State who received major discipline in the preceding calendar year, an explanation of the rule, regulation, policy, directive or law violated, a factual summary of their conduct and a statement of the sanction imposed.  It can be found at www.njoag.gov/majordiscipline.

Office of Policing Policy. The Office of Policing Policy (OPP), created within OPIA in December 2019, and supervised by Director Joseph Walsh, oversees the implementation of the Attorney General’s Policing initiatives. The OPP, working in cooperation with law enforcement executives, county prosecutors, and other stakeholders, monitors the effectiveness of the Attorney General’s various Law Enforcement Directives, Guidelines and Memoranda. The OPP recommends revisions to these documents when appropriate and serves as a liaison to law enforcement in order to ensure compliance.  The OPP has worked with the Police Training Commission (PTC) to implement a police licensure system and to develop enhanced and improved training for law enforcement officers.  Finally, the OPP consults with the Attorney General’s Office of Justice Data (OJD) to assist with the collection, analysis and dissemination of relevant law enforcement data.

Police Training Commission.- The Police Training Commission (PTC), under the authority of the Police Training Act, is responsible for the development and certification of basic and continuing training courses for county and local police, sheriffs’ officers, state and county investigators, state and county corrections officers, juvenile detention officers, and a number of other law enforcement positions, as well as several instructor development courses. Training courses are revised and updated on an ongoing basis as necessitated by legislation, court decisions, and advances in technology and the state of knowledge regarding law enforcement practice.  On July 21, 2022, the New Jersey Legislature, and as approved by Governor Phil Murphy, established a police licensing program for all New Jersey law enforcement officers. The Police Licensure Act, as codified in N.J.S.A. 52:17B-66, et. seq., went into effect on January 1, 2024, and delegated to the PTC the ability and responsibility to monitor and take appropriate action against any law enforcement officer who acts outside the bounds of professionalism or engages in illegal or improper conduct. Professional licensure provides the means to ensure that law enforcement officers in this State maintain appropriately high standards of training and professionalism, in both qualifying for the positions and in performing their duties.