Street Cop is a private police training company that bills itself as being in the business of “properly educating police officers on what they CAN do.” According to a recent report by the New Jersey Comptroller, that list of can-do actions includes making sure camera-wielding citizens are “pepper sprayed, fucking tased, windows broken out, motherfucker,” in the words of the company’s founder, Dennis Benigno. This advice was delivered during a 2021 presentation to working cops that cost the State of New Jersey $75,000.
At the same talk, Benigno explained that there are too few pretexts currently being used for a traffic stop. New Jersey police were encouraged to stop and aggressively question drivers who are too nicely dressed while on a long trip; driving a minivan without a child seat; have allowed food wrappers to collect on the floor of the vehicle; have a lawyer’s business card visible; or who attempt to place calls to friends or family during a traffic stop.
Last week, after the contents of the Street Cop talk became public, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin apologized, saying the conference taught inaccurate and offensive lessons. “I’ve made it very clear to all 38,000 sworn (New Jersey) officers and their leadership that no one should be attending Street Cop Training in the State of New Jersey,” he said, adding that the officers who’d attended the 2021 conference would undergo retraining.
The New Jersey controversy comes amid increased public scrutiny of police practices following the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of police. In response to demands for more training, departments have turned to private training companies. As demonstrated by the Street Cop fiasco, however, the groups are not subject to regulations.
“These private programs often evade the usual public scrutiny from local officials and independent watchdogs,” CUNY sociologist and policing expert Alex Vitale tells Truthdig. “In addition, some of this training is being provided to individual officers at a regional level at their own personal cost, indicating an appetite for more violence-centered and potentially discriminatory training by rank and file officers.”
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