The Professional Responsibility Bureau of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office operates in accordance with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Guidelines on Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures. A copy of the guidelines can be found on the New Jersey Attorney General’s website.
Our Professional Responsibility Bureau accepts and documents all citizen complaints against law enforcement personnel employed in Monmouth County, as well as all citizen complaints against law enforcement personnel employed by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Professional Responsibility Bureau is responsible for investigating allegations of criminal acts committed by police officers. If a citizen’s complaint about a police officer does not rise to the level of a crime or there is insufficient evidence to prove a crime was committed, the complaint is referred back to the officer’s employer, the municipal police department, for an administrative investigation by the police department’s internal affairs unit. If a police officer is found by his or her employer to have violated a department policy or rule during the administrative investigation, then the employer may discipline the officer. However, discipline rests solely with a law enforcement officer’s employing agency. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office does not have the legal authority to impose administrative punishment on a municipal police officer. See N.J.S.A. 40A-118; Borough of Stone Harbor v. Wildwood Local 59, Policemen’s Benev. Ass’n of New Jersey, 164 N.J. Super. 375 (App. Div. 1978); New Jersey Attorney General’s Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures, revised August 2020.
Any citizen wishing to file a complaint may do so by filling out the Citizen Complaint Form electronically and submitting it online through our website here. A complaint may also be submitted in person at our office Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office located at 132 Jerseyville Avenue, Freehold, NJ, 07728; or by fax at 732-431-1594; or by e-mailing the Professional Responsibility Bureau at ProfessionalResponsibility@mcponj.org; or by telephone at 732-431-7160.