A New Jersey police union announced on Tuesday that it had won a dispute over a city’s demand for local police to identify whether they participated in the January 6 violent pro-Trump rebellion on Capitol Hill.
Bob Fox, president of the New Jersey Labor Police Fraternal Order, said in a press release who had resolved a complaint on behalf of the members of the Neptune Superior Officers Association Lodge 19, “preserving the constitutional and contractual rights of our members”.
Fox added that Neptune Township on January 20 sent a notice that “required members to identify whether they participated in the ‘January 6, 2021 siege in the US capital in Washington, DC'”, an event he told the police union “At all levels clearly and unequivocally condemned. “
Fox added that officers were told they would face disciplinary action if they did not respond to the warning.
“Notably, there was absolutely no indication, complaint or information to suggest that any senior Neptune officer was in any way involved in the January 6 events in Washington DC,” continued the head of the police union. “The FOP concluded that this investigation was done for purely political purposes and was not based on reliable facts or information.”
The police union then filed a complaint “challenging the legality of the notification and the requirement to compel our members to respond” and alleged “violations of the rights of our members under the collective bargaining agreement with the municipality of Neptune”.
Fox said the municipality then upheld the complaint and therefore terminated the notification to law enforcement officials.
“The FOP and the FOP-NJ Labor Council will continue to defend our members, without fail and with all the resources at our disposal,” added Fox in the press release.
This is because several current and former police officers were among those arrested and charged with connection to the January 6 riot, in which five people died as a result of the chaos, including Capitol policeman Brian Sicknick and a woman shot by a Police undercover.
Federal authorities have already accused more than 100 individuals in connection with the riot, and investigators said they are currently examining more than 400 possible suspects.
DC Attorney General Michael Sherwin said in a call to reporters that the police received more than 200,000 complaints from the public and obtained more than 500 search and subpoena warrants.