The Pitfalls of Private, Unregulated Police Training: Video Excerpts
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Hundreds of New Jersey law enforcement officers attended a police training conference held by a private company, Street Cop Training, in October 2021 in Atlantic City.
An investigation by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) found the training taught unconstitutional policing tactics, glorified violence, denigrated women and minorities, and likely violated a myriad of state laws and policies.
Street Cop Video Excerpts
The videos below contain offensive content and images.*
Teaching Unconstitutional Policing Tactics
Glorifying Violence, Dehumanizing Civilians
More Than 100 Harassing, Discriminatory Remarks
Encouraging Insubordination, Disparaging Internal Affairs
OSC confirmed that 3 county agencies, 48 municipal police departments, 1 interstate agency, and 2 state agencies, including the New Jersey State Police, spent public funds on the conference. None of the officers made complaints about the training to their agencies, OSC found.
READ THE REPORT
How Did This Happen?
Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh explains the alarming deficiencies in Street Cop's training and why that points to the need for regulation of post-academy, private police training in New Jersey.
Why We Did This Investigation
- OSC received information that public dollars were wasted on police training that taught questionable tactics and contained offensive and discriminatory content.
- Street Cop, the training provider, claims to be one of the country's largest, if not the largest, private police training companies. It is based in New Jersey.
- Private, post-academy police training is virtually unregulated, with no government oversight.
Why It Matters
- This training wasted public dollars. Officers who attended need to be retrained – on directives, policies, and even on basic constitutional law.
- Street Cop said this conference was "standard fare" and estimated that the organization trained about 2,000 New Jersey officers a year.
- This type of training normalizes discriminatory and harassing conduct. It also increases the risk of lawsuits for civil rights violations, discrimination, and hostile work environments.
READ THE REPORT
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