NAACP leaders want state police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan fired after reports of systemic racism and sexism at the New Jersey State Police. (Hal Brown for New Jersey Monitor)
The NAACP’s state leaders are calling for state police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan to step down in the wake of two scathing reports that found systemic failures in how the New Jersey State Police treat female troopers and troopers of color.
NAACP State Conference President Richard T. Smith and Gregg L. Zeff, the group’s legal redress chair, applauded Attorney General Matt Platkin for having “the strength to reveal the nefarious, biased underbelly of the New Jersey State Police.” Platkin released the reports Tuesday.
Still, Zeff told the New Jersey Monitor that he and other NAACP leaders have “been really screaming about it from the mountaintops for years now.”
“It has been the only way the state police do business since the beginning of the state police. If you’re a minority, if you’re a woman, if you’re not part of the old boys club, you’re not getting ahead,” Zeff said.
Zeff pointed to multiple lawsuits, federal investigations, and other reports dating back decades that documented racism and sexism in the agency’s hiring, promotions, and discipline.
The reforms Platkin ordered this week could be successful, but not with the current command staff, he said. He and Smith urged Gov. Phil Murphy to replace Callahan, who became a state trooper in 1995 and took over the top job in the 3,000-member agency in October 2017.
“Report after report, lawsuit after lawsuit has not stopped the State Police from making a mockery of laws that We the People and the New Jersey State Legislature have enacted,” Smith and Zeff said in a statement. “We believe the remedies proposed by the Attorney General could be successful, but will not be as long as the leaders at the top of the State Police remain in office looking for loopholes and workarounds.”
Murphy has no plans to can Callahan, according to a statement his office provided.
“I am committed to working with Attorney General Platkin and Colonel Callahan to ensure that all of the recommendations contained in the reports are enacted without delay,” Murphy said via a spokeswoman.
Spokespeople for Platkin and the state police declined to comment on the call for Callahan’s ouster, but Sgt. Charles Marchan, a state police spokesman, said: “We remain fully committed to working closely with Attorney General Platkin to ensure continued cooperation, transparency, and accountability.”
Fil Soto, president of the New Jersey Latino American Trooper Society, said his organization stands behind Callahan, too.
“We support and stand behind Col. Callahan and New Jersey State Police, due to his continued support of our missions and community outreach efforts,” Soto said. “Col. Callahan has always embraced and commended the inclusiveness of our diverse makeup.”
The Rev. Eric Dobson is president of the United Black Agenda. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)
Eric Dobson, executive director of the United Black Agenda, joined the NAACP’s call for Callahan’s removal Wednesday. The state police’s culture — where critics say Black officers are repeatedly overlooked for promotions, subjected to racist taunts, and retaliated against when reporting discrimination — is unacceptable, he added.
“We believe that the systemic issues exposed in the report cannot be fully addressed under the current leadership of Colonel Patrick Callahan. The toxic atmosphere that has permeated the New Jersey State Police has flourished under his watch, and we have concerns that real change will be difficult without new leadership at the helm,” Dobson said. “For the Attorney General’s recommendations to succeed, fresh leadership that is committed to eliminating these harmful practices is necessary.”
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