NJ Attorney General's office taking over Paterson Police Dept. following shooting death

New Jersey’s Attorney General’s Office is taking over the scandal-plagued Paterson Police Department, which has been under fresh scrutiny since police shot and killed 31-year-old Najee Seabrooks during an apparent mental health crisis earlier this month.

“There is a crisis of confidence in law enforcement in this city,” Attorney General Matt Platkin said during a press conference announcing the move Monday.

In a memo to the department, Platkin said the department had suffered fiscal challenges “and been subjected to the whims of a revolving door of leadership.”

“These challenges along with the high-profile cases of misconduct — some of it being criminal — on the part of a few officers have sullied the good name of hundreds of officers trying to do good work here and the trust between the community and the Department has deteriorated as a result,” Platkin wrote.

Platkin didn’t say what role a takeover might leave for Paterson Police Chief Engelbert Ribeiro, who took over the department on March 3 — the same day Seabrooks was shot. He said State Police Maj. Frederick Fife had relieved Ribeiro of his command and NYPD Chief of Strategic Initiatives Isa M. Abbassi will be taking over as officer in charge in May. Ribeiro still remained a member of the department, Platkin said.

Sharon Lauchaire, a spokesperson for Platkin's office, said it remained to be determined what role Ribeiro might have under the new leadership.

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh told Gothamist in a text message that when he spoke to Platkin, “he assured me his office, the state police, the governor and Legislature will provide additional resources to our Department.” He didn’t say when he'd spoken to the attorney general. But Sayegh said that a year earlier, he’d welcomed help from Platkin’s office with Paterson’s internal affairs process.

Sayegh wrote in the text that he looked forward to reviewing Platkin's plan and timeline "as well as to share and build upon the reforms that we have already implemented."

"We will do everything we can to continue to improve our police department for the residents of Paterson," he said

Paterson also has a longtime civilian public safety director, Jerry Speziale. He'll remain in that position, Lauchaire said. Gothamist reached out to Ribeiro and Speziale but did not immediately receive responses.

The takeover comes just weeks after dozens of New Jersey organizations signed on to a letter from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice — which includes former state attorney general John J. Farmer and former U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman on its board — alleging Paterson police had engaged in a “pattern and practice of misconduct and impunity that deprives the residents of Paterson of their civil rights.”

They asked for a federal Department of Justice investigation into the police force.

Monday, the institute said it was "encouraging" that Platkin had recognized problems in the Paterson force, but "the proof will be in the pudding.

"We, and he, must also remember that the ‘crisis in confidence’ is a direct result of a crisis in policing – and a crisis of police violence – against Black and other people of color," the group wrote in a statement.

Sayegh previously told the Paterson Press this month he was “vehemently opposed” to federal intervention, citing reform measures such as the use of body cameras and saying police members had been “policing themselves.” He specifically credited the department’s former police chief, Troy Oswald, for contacting the FBI about a case that resulted in several convictions of Paterson officers.

Platkin on Monday described several other initiatives he said would be put in place, including the expansion of the state ARRIVE Together initiative in Paterson. The initiative pairs up mental health professionals with police, and Gov. Phil Murphy has proposed $10 million in his state budget for a statewide rollout. On the most recent episode of WNYC’s “Ask Governor Murphy” call-in show, when asked about police reform and about the Paterson department, Murphy heralded the pilot program as a growing success.

Platkin also said he’d be revising the state’s use-of-force policy to include protocols for interactions with barricaded individuals, to include the use of mental health professionals. And he said a working group would study the use of hospital-based violence intervention programs.

Seabrooks had been a member of one such group, the Paterson Healing Collective. Members say they weren’t allowed to help talk Seabrooks down when he barricaded himself in his home on March 3, then called 911 for help. When the officers arrived at the apartment, Seabrooks had locked himself inside the bathroom with knives and also claimed to have a gun, Platkin’s office has said.

Footage released by Platkin's office shows police eventually opening fire after trying to convince him to come out, then talking about taking knives out of Seabrooks’ hands.

Seabrooks’ death set off a new wave of activism in and around Paterson — where community groups have often called for police reforms — with some calling for measures including the creation of civilian review boards to adjudicate accusations of police misconduct.

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice stressed that any working group should have representation from community violence groups. It also encouraged a "mental health responders-first approach that goes beyond ARRIVE Together and that includes leading with expert community mental health intervention."

Monday, the New Jersey Violence Intervention and Prevention Coalition called the takeover “a necessary first step toward justice,” but said more needs to be done to hold the Paterson Police Department accountable for past incidents. It also called for removing anyone involved in leadership at the time of Seabrooks’ death, and for Paterson to invest in a non-carceral crisis response team — a group made-up of trained community members, rather than law enforcement. And it said it wanted transparency into the ARRIVE program.

“By taking over the Paterson police the Attorney General is acknowledging there have been transgressions and that harm has been committed. The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office has done nothing to address those issues and so we are calling for new leadership across the board,” the group wrote.

The letter from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice had cited several past incidents of alleged police abuses. Among them:

• It notes that in February, the Attorney General’s Office filed charges against a Paterson officer who shot a fleeing man in the back, paralyzing him. Sayegh has defended the officer, saying he was following guidelines while pursuing someone he thought had a gun.
• The letter also points to an ongoing lawsuit against the city in the 2019 death of Jameek Lowery, who died in police custody. Family members have alleged he was restrained and beaten on the way to a hospital after seeking help from police during a mental breakdown.
• It points to federal charges against two officers seen on video repeatedly punching a 19-year-old in 2021, and to convictions of five officers and a sergeant for robbing residents during stops — a group an assistant U.S. attorney described as a “literal robbery squad.”
• It notes the ongoing missing persons case of Felix DeJesus, dropped off in a park by Paterson police a year ago and not seen since; officers involved in the case were suspended for turning off their body cameras and other procedural violations.
• And the letter notes Paterson only recently regained control of its internal affairs operations following 17 months of oversight by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.

The letter alleges a pattern of misconduct that it says has disproportionately affected Black and brown residents. It also says Paterson police and other authorities have failed to hold the department accountable, and that the department “critically needs independent oversight.”

Monday, Platkin described the takeover as a move to support police alongside the community, saying mistrust continued to hurt both.

"People throughout Paterson deserve a public safety system that protects and serves all members of its community, just as the members of the Paterson Police Department deserve adequate resources, support, and innovation from their leadership," Platkin said.

In Abbassi’s current position with the NYPD he was involved in the roll-out of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' new Neighborhood Safety Teams, according to NY1. Those units drew controversy because they are similar to teams disbanded during the de Blasio Administration after they were involved in a disproportionate level of police violence.

Platkin said Abbassi was instrumental in repairing community relationships with police and improving public safety after he was dispatched in a leadership role to Staten Island in 2014 in the wake of the police killing of Eric Garner.

This story has been updated with statements from Mayor Andre Sayegh and New Jersey Violence Intervention and Prevention Coalition. This is a developing story and may be updated further with additional information.