Official Misconduct Penalties in New Jersey Are Serious - Edison Police Shoplifter Lucky
An Edison New Jersey Police Officer plead guilty to Shoplifting in Middlesex County Superior Court on August 10, 2009, according mycentraljersey.com .
Forget for a minute that a 29 year police veteran would need to, want to or risk, Shoplifting $42.00 worth of items from a supermarket where he works off-duty on a security detail. The real story is that he was able to avoid mandatory state prison time for Official Misconduct.
Official Misconduct in New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 2C: 30-2) occurs when a public servant (yes, a police officer) commits an act relating to his office with the purpose to obtain a benefit for himself. In this case, the officer's attorney stated that his client felt pressured to plea to the Shoplifting because the State was threatening to Indict the officer for Official Misconduct.
Of course there may have been an issue as to whether the officer committed an act related to his office as is required by the Official Misconduct statute. On the one hand, he was off-duty working a security detail and he was paid by the Supermarket. On the other hand, he was wearing his police uniform and he was hired by the Supermarket through the Edison police department. An interesting legal debate would have surely taken place.
