As early as the 1600s, police appointed by the British were used to perform basic law enforcement services in the colonies.

A new report from the State Commission of Investigation found that many towns in New Jersey are still appointing police officers, some of whom engage in dangerous and illegal behavior.

Kathy Hennessy Riley, SCI's Assistant Director of Communications and Public Affairs, said: “Many of these police officers’ uniforms look almost exactly the same as law enforcement, and they sometimes think they can act like law enforcement. ."

She said that it is important to emphasize that police officers are definitely not police officers.

"What is a police officer? It is an ordinary citizen without training and supervision."

The report, titled "Abuse of Police Badges," found that some police officers were facing criminal charges for posing as police officers. After a traffic dispute, he asked for his motor vehicle certificate.

In another incident, several police officers from Essex County appeared at the scene of a mass shooting in Jersey City in 2019, killing 6 people, including a policeman. Riley said the group took out their weapons and announced that they were providing support to the police, even though they had no right to do so.

According to reports, another police officer showed his badge and told the law enforcement officers who stopped his vehicle that he was actually a policeman just like them.

Riley said that in many towns, police do not have any power, but "in certain communities, they are assigned low-level police tasks, such as enforcing noise regulations or issuing littering summons."

Riley said that some real law enforcement organizations, including the New Jersey Police Chiefs Association, the New Jersey Attorneys Association, and the Police Charity Association, have expressed concerns about police officers, noting that “not only will they confuse the public, but they may also endanger the public.”

The report also found that some police officers tried to use their positions to promote their own private business interests, boasting about their so-called law enforcement certificates in order to obtain higher hourly wages in security companies.

Riley said that after reviewing all the facts, the SCI has recommended that state legislators end this practice.

"Repeal regulations for local management agencies to appoint police officers. This position is not needed in the world today. This is simply a recipe for disaster."

Riley said: "It's really hard to understand why we need any police in our modern and complex law enforcement system today."

A copy of the SCI report is available here.

You can contact reporter David Matthau at david.matthau@townsquaremedia.com.