After three and a half months of controversy, the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted to approve law enforcement requests for thousands of dollars worth of riot gear.
As rallies against police brutality and calls to defund police departments engulfed the country, requests from the county sheriff and prosecutor became a flash point in Hudson County, with dozens of residents tuning in to freeholder meetings to protest the purchase of tear gas and non-lethal weaponry.
On Thursday, even a relatively small purchase — $11,000 of “defensive equipment technology” — drew criticism over what residents saw as an unnecessary militarization of the police.
In June, The Jersey Journal first reported the requests for gear, which included riot helmets, tear gas, and “riot control grenades.” The report caused swift backlash online, and the freeholders pulled the request before the meeting. But the move sparked a months-long campaign among county progressives against law enforcement requests.
In August, the requests resurfaced on an agenda, only to be voted down. “I thought we had this conversation,” Freeholder Albert Cifelli said at the time. “I’m kind of disturbed that it’s gotten to this point.”
But the expenditures reappeared on Thursday night’s meeting agenda, drawing more than 20 members of the public to voice their concerns.
“The county government is spending way too much money on police,” said speaker Katia Oltmann. “Incidents like Breonna Taylor’s murder in Louisville show that the police themselves are often the ones that are dangerous.”
Another member of the public, Marc Devens, noted that tear gas was banned under the Geneva Convention. And speaker Caitlin Sherman called for an end to “all of these constantly ballooning police budgets.”
“Personally, today was my last day at my job," she said. "So the county should be spending these funds on things like housing, health, employment.”
But the board approved the expenditures despite the opposition. The resolution passed 6-3, with Freeholders Cifelli, Bill O’Dea, and Joel Torres voting against the requests. Freeholders Jerry Walker, Kenneth Kopacz, and Fanny Cedeño, all of whom had previously voted against the items, approved them Thursday.
“We had an opportunity to basically sit with (the law enforcement agencies) and for them to explain to us the need for these items, and why they were purchasing them at this time,” Cedeño said. “I was satisfied with their reasoning.” Walker and Kopacz could not immediately be reached for comment.
In the original June 3 letter requesting the equipment, Hudson County Sheriff Frank X. Schillari seemed to reference the protests over Floyd’s death, writing that “With the public protesting more frequently and the potential of them turning violent, causing destruction to personal property and businesses requiring a large law enforcement response to restore order.”
But in an interview Friday, Schillari said the requests were made routinely to replace expired equipment. The regional SWAT team only used the gear for training purposes, he said, adding that in his roughly two decades at the agency, officers had never used tear gas in the field.
“Hopefully we never have to use this tear gas the way it’s being used around the country, but we never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Our job is to protect and serve and we have to protect the people and property. We can’t have people coming to burn stores down, police stations, police cars."
Schillari said he had “never before” seen this summer’s level of opposition to the purchases. He attributed recent police killings to “bad apples everywhere,” but noted that many protests had turned violent because of “professional agitators.”
“You see what’s going on around the country,” he said. “We’ve been very fortunate that we haven’t had any incidents. We have peaceful protests.”