Prosecutor takes over NJ town’s police after chief touts racial profiling

WYCKOFF — The Bergen County prosecutor is taking over this township's police department as the state continues an investigation into the police chief who appeared to have instructed officers to engage in racial profiling.

Bergen County Acting Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal and Mayor Kevin Rooney announced Friday an agreement to appoint a captain from Grewal's office to monitor the municipal department during the investigation.

The township will not be allowed to make any changes to personnel without permission from the prosecutor. The monitor, Capt. Timothy Condon, will report directly to Grewal, according to the agreement, and train officers if needed.

In the chief's absence, the department's acting officer in charge will be Lt. Charles VanDyk.

Police Chief Benjamin Fox agreed Tuesday to temporarily step down after the state Attorney General’s Office announced it was investigating his email, which encouraged cops to profile black people in white neighborhoods.

The email, sent on Dec. 5, 2014, was leaked to the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a complaint with the state.

“Black gang members from Teaneck commit burglaries in Wyckoff,” the email says. “That’s why we check out suspicious black people in white neighborhoods. White kids buy heroin in black NYC neighborhoods. That’s why the NYPD stops those white kids. It’s insane to think that the police should just ‘dumb down’ just to be politically correct.”

State officials said the email appears to violate a 2005 attorney general law enforcement directive prohibiting police from engaging in racial profiling.

Wyckoff is a town of 17,000 people, 94 percent of whom are white. Less than 100 residents are black, according to the 2010 Census.

ACLU-NJ Executive Director Udi Ofer said earlier in the week that if Fox sent the email he “must be held accountable” and called for his firing.

“This is a wake-up call for New Jersey to implement stronger oversight and transparency in policing practices across the state,” Ofer said.

In signing onto the agreement with the prosecutor, the township did not admit any wrongdoing but finds “that it is in the best interest to cooperate” with the investigation in order to “ensure public confidence in the professionalism” of the police department, the agreement states.

In a separate statement, Rooney said he is "confident that our police department has never engaged in or condoned any sort of profiling."

"I have no doubt that our police officers will continue to operate with the utmost respect for all those whom they have sworn to protect."