WOODBRIDGE – A Woodbridge police officer is named in the Major Discipline report released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office released information on Aug. 10 regarding New Jersey law enforcement officers who were subject to major discipline between June 15 and Dec. 31, 2020.
The information is being released in compliance with Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive 2021-6, which former Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal issued two months ago in light of this summer’s New Jersey Supreme Court decision authorizing the public release of certain police disciplinary information on a going-forward basis, according to information provided by the Attorney General’s Office.
According to the report, Officer Gary Hubbard was suspended for 15 days for abuse of sick time.
The Woodbridge Police Department will not comment on matters of personnel outside of the Attorney General’s report, according to a township spokesperson.
Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck made the following statement regarding the release of the information.
“Today, New Jersey takes an important step forward, joining the majority of U.S. states that disclose the identities of law enforcement officers found responsible for engaging in serious disciplinary violations.
“We are releasing this information not to shame or embarrass individual officers, but to provide the same type of transparency and accountability in policing that New Jersey mandates in other essential professions.
“The vast majority of New Jersey’s law enforcement officers serve the public with honor and integrity, doing the right thing day in and day out for the communities they serve, so I take no joy in putting this information out.
“But we are doing this because it is an important and necessary step to build greater public trust while promoting professionalism in law enforcement,” Bruck said in the statement.
Under AG Directive 2021-6, all New Jersey law enforcement agencies are required to publish online and provide to the Attorney General’s Office the names of any officers who were subject to “major discipline” – that is, terminated, demoted, or suspended for more than five days – during the relevant reporting period.
Going forward, agencies will be required to release this information on an annual basis, shortly after the end of the calendar year.
The information regarding the Major Discipline report is available at njoag.gov/majordiscipline