As the news was broken very first here on FAA News, on Thursday, Police Chief Matthew Kunz filed a massive lawsuit revealing explosive allegations involving Mayor Mike Reina’s decision to appoint Joseph Candido - a sitting Police Lieutenant (and subordinate to Kunz) - as Director of Public Safety and effectively, Kunz's boss.
The lawsuit highlights that in his short tenure, Candido has taken complete control of the police department and even taken disciplinary action against Kunz.
The suit also brings back to light Reina’s earlier fight against LCSW and his attempts to bully Kunz into kicking LCSW out of Jackson.
Contrary to a report on The Lakewood Scoop, as previously reported here on FAA News, just hours after the lawsuit was filed, Judge Valter Must granted Kunz immediate relief barring Candido from "engaging in law enforcement activities" and from enforcing any disciplinary charges against Kunz pending the outcome of a hearing which will be held on February 14, 2015.
In a developing update, late Friday afternoon Judge Must mysteriously issued an amended order backtracking the immediate relief. The Order To Show Cause hearing is still on schedule to be held on February 14, 2015.
According to the court filing in New Jersey Superior Court in Ocean County by Secaucus Attorney John P. Nulty, Jr., Esq.:
The Township of Jackson, through Reina, and Candido, have unlawfully usurped the statutory rights and privileges attendant to Kunz's position as Chief of Police. By statute, Kunz possesses the right to administer and enforce rules and regulations applicable to the Department and to oversee and manage the Department’s day-to-day affairs. The Legislature has made clear that these statutory rights are designed to insulate chiefs of police from political pressures and to permit them freedom to manage their departments free from unnecessary interference. A police chief’s management of the department therefore is subject only to general regulatory oversight by an ”appropriate authority” – typically the mayor or another high-ranking municipal official.
To further insulate chiefs of police from political passions, the Attorney General’s Internal Affairs Practices and Procedures (“IAPP”) provides that investigations of misconduct by chiefs of police are subject to a rigid procedural framework, whereby any such investigation must be carried out by the County Prosecutor’s Office of Attorney General’s Office, which then submits its findings to the appropriate authority.
The Township has trampled upon Kunz's statutory rights and procedural protections. In early 2024, the Township passed an ordinance which designated Candido -- a Lieutenant within the Jackson Police Department and thus a subordinate of Plaintiff -- as the Township’s Director of Public Safety. The ordinance also provides the Director with ultimate supervisory authority over the Department’s day-to-day affairs and, consequently, Plaintiff. Stranger still, the ordinance does not name the Director as the “appropriate authority” with the attendant statutory powers to oversee the Department’s general procedures, but rather names the Township Manager as the “appropriate authority.”
Upon assuming his new title as Director, Candido has exercised absolute and total authority over the Department’s day-to-day operations, including personnel assignments and duties, uniform and badge requirements, purchasing authority, equipment assignments, police investigatory affairs, and officer discipline. In each of these various responsibilities, he either has cut Kunz completely out of the decision-making process, overturned Kunz's prior orders, or both. Kunz thus has been forced involuntarily to cede unassignable statutory privileges to a subordinate officer.
Even more egregious, Director Candido has seen fit on two occasions to issue discipline to Kunz, in direct violation both of the IAPP and the Department’s own Standard Operating Procedures.
There are several fatal problems that render the Township’s activities here unlawful. First, Director Candido has not been designated by the Township as the “appropriate authority,” and therefore cannot exercise any authority over Kunz. Second, even putting that issue aside, the appropriate authority is intended as a position to be filled by a civilian, such as the mayor, with general policy oversight of a department’s affairs. The “appropriate authority” cannot act as a law enforcement officer, nor manage a department’s day-to-day operations at a granular level. Defendants have violated both of those requirements here. Third, Director Candido is barred from serving as the Director of Public Safety by the common law incompatibility doctrine, which prohibits public officials and employees from serving in dual roles, one of which is subordinate to the other. Because he already serves as a Lieutenant in the Department subordinate to Kunz, Director Candido cannot fill a second role in which he is able to exercise supervisory authority over Kunz. Finally, the two instances in which Director Candido issued discipline to Kunz both were improper because he failed to comply with the requirements of both the IAPP and the Department’s Standard Operating Procedures, both of which require that investigations for police chief misconduct be carried out by the County Prosecutor’s Office or the Attorney General’s Office, and then be referred to the appropriate authority.
The suit also lists a number of contentious issues over the years between Kunz and Reina, including that in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Reina directed and encouraged Department Heads to file false, misleading and/or inflated insurance claims. Kunx resisted this illegal direction and, instead, reported the conduct to the FBI. Kunz, at the FBI’s request, acted as a confidential informant and provide information which he reasonably believed, demonstrated criminal conduct by Reina. During the course of that investigation, the FBI revealed to Reina that Kunz had been operating as a confidential informant and had provided information to it regarding Reina’s conduct.
Mere hours after the complaint was filed, Ocean County Superior Court Judge Valter granted an Order to Show Cause.
Thursday's Order requires the Township to show cause at the February 14 hearing why an Order should not be entered:
i) Dismissing all subject disciplinary charges against Kunz;
ii) Rescinding and voiding any suspension or other penalty or finding associated with said notices and permanently removing same from Kunz's disciplinary history and record;
iii) Awarding Kunz attorney fees;
iv) Permanent injunctive relief prohibiting Director Candido from interfering with Kunz's authority to manage the day-to-day operations of the Police Department, including, but not limited, to the ability to regulate personnel assignments, shift policies, uniform rules, budget approvals, press releases, directing law enforcement personnel, seeking confidential information, and equipment allocations;
v) Permanent injunctive relief prohibiting Director Candido from engaging in law enforcement activities, including, but not limited to, conducting motor vehicle stops; answering calls for service; engaging in patrol activities; speaking with officers or department employees regarding confidential police matters; issuing directives to officers or department employees; having unfettered access to police headquarters; stopping or detaining individuals; arresting individuals as a police officer; wearing a police uniform, visible gun, or badge; operating a vehicle equipped as a police vehicle, including police hand radios; accessing criminal investigative records or criminal history record information; accessing areas of the police department where confidential information is discussed or displayed; accessing the police department’s video surveillance and security system; directing or participating in the investigation of any criminal activity; and carrying a firearm in the performance of his duties.
vi) An order declaring all orders and directives issued by Director Candido to be void;
vii) Such other legal and equitable relief as the Court may deem just and proper.
Contrary to the following report on The Lakewood Scoop,
as previously reported here on FAA News, Judge Must also granted immediate restraints as follows:
Pending the February 14 hearing:
(a) Defendants and those in concert with them are enjoined and restrained from enforcing or further pursuing the disciplinary actions identified in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Order;
(b) Defendant Candido is enjoined and restrained from all conduct identified or substantially similar to that set forth in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Order.
Essentially, Judge Must's Order immediately restrained Candido from "engaging in law enforcement activities."
In a major development, late Friday afternoon, Judge Must inexplicably mysteriously issued an amended order backtracking the immediate relief. The Order To Show Cause hearing is still on schedule for February 14.
Original Order:
Amended Order:
In an additional development, the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police has just filed a Morin to appear as amicus curiae in support of Chief Kunz.
"NJSACOP has been made aware of this matter in which the Township of Jackson has appointed a Director of Public Safety from within the Jackson Township Police Department, whose power and authority to manage the department’s day-to-day affairs interferes with Jackson Township Police Chief Michael Kunz’s statutory authority as chief of police. I have spoken with many of my colleagues and NJSACOP members around the state, all of whom agree that the Court and the parties would benefit from NJSACOP’s participation in this matter. In particular, NJSACOP will provide perspective from its membership -- which is composed of current and retired municipal police chiefs from across the state -- concerning their collective experience and viewpoints on the statutory rights and authority the Legislature has granted to municipal police chiefs to manage their departments’ operations free from unwarranted interference. The NJSACOP thus believes that the instant case presents a matter of significant public importance and wishes to give the Court its perspective on the legal and practical ramifications of the Court’s decision and the impact on its members, which include municipal police chiefs throughout the state who may be subject to similar unlawful interference within their own departments. We note in particular here that the Township of Jackson appointed a Lieutenant within the Township’s Police Department to the position of Director of Public Safety. In addition to the point above regarding unwarranted interference in the Department’s affairs, we believe the Director’s appointment also creates an impermissible conflict of interest, and violates the common law incompatible offices doctrine. We further fear that the Director has taken disciplinary action against Chief Kunz without adhering to the procedural and investigatory requirements of the Attorney General’s Internal Affairs Policies and Procedures (“IAPP”). Accordingly, we believe the Court would benefit greatly from our perspective regarding the important and far-ranging legal issues underlying this matter," wrote Raymond J. Hayducka, a law enforcement officer for 37 years, present Chief of Police for the South Brunswick Township Police Department, and Chair of the NJSACOP’s Legal Aid and Arbitration Committee.
Kunz has been employed by the Township for over 34 years and has served as its Chief of Police since 2008.
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