TRENTON — State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes has ordered stricter policies on alcohol-related motor vehicle incidents involving troopers and launched an extensive review on the use of undercover identification cards. The order, dated Monday and obtained by The Star-Ledger, was distributed to the command staff of the 2,900-member force and it came one day after the newspaper revealed the...
Photo of the Mitsubishi Montero driven by Philadelphia resident Clayton Tanksley when he was rear-ended by off-duty State Police Detective Sgt. William Billingham on Route 295 in Camden County on March 22, 2009.TRENTON — State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes has ordered stricter policies on alcohol-related motor vehicle incidents involving troopers and launched an extensive review on the use of undercover identification cards.
The order, dated Monday and obtained by The Star-Ledger, was distributed to the command staff of the 2,900-member force and it came one day after the newspaper revealed the alleged cover-up of a trooper’s violent highway accident in Camden County in 2009.
Detective Sgt. William Billingham, an undercover trooper who carried a false identity, rear-ended Philadelphia resident Clayton Tanksley while off-duty and driving an unmarked trooper car, according to internal State Police memos.
He was not suspended or charged until two years after the accident, and prosecutors now say he was drunk at the time of the crash.
Billingham’s fellow troopers put his undercover information on the accident report and forwarded it to Tanksley’s insurance company, sending him and his lawyer on a fruitless search to recoup thousands of dollars in medical bills.
Billingham’s lawyer said he is pleading not guilty to the charge of assault by auto, the only charge arising from the case. Ocean County prosecutors are handling the case because Billingham’s brother is the sheriff in Camden County.
The case has drawn scrutiny from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Attorney General’s Office, which is examining troopers’ response to the crash in a separate internal investigation.
The superintendent’s memo represents a new effort to discourage misconduct and weed out alcohol-related incidents, which have prompted embarrassment for the division. It also increases accountability for ranking officers, requiring them to carefully review motor vehicle stops and accidents in which alcohol use is suspected.
Incidents will now receive "multiple layers of internal review," including a final examination by the superintendent. Regional commanders will be responsible for ensuring troopers are thoroughly examined for alcohol use, and ranking officers may be required to respond to the scene of the incident, the memo says.
In his memo, Fuentes also directed top commanders in charge of operations and investigations to review "all existing protocols" concerning undercover identification cards. Written recommendations on when they can be presented to police at accidents or motor vehicle stops were due Friday.
Also, any troopers presenting fictitious credentials will be required to explain themselves to their supervisors.
"Personal safety and the integrity of ongoing covert investigations will be considered in the display of those credentials and whether that action was appropriate at the time and place of the incident," the memo says.
State Police spokesman acting Maj. Gerald Lewis declined to comment on the memo because of the ongoing internal and criminal investigations.
The use of fictitious information is a central issue in the response to Billingham’s crash, which happened before dawn on March 22, 2009, on Route 295 in Lawnside.
After the accident, Tanksley’s lawyer filed a lawsuit against Billingham’s undercover identity in an unsuccessful attempt to collect damages.
"It was a convenient way to throw everyone off the track," said the lawyer, Jeffrey Pooner. "It gave the guys who wanted to commit this fraud an opportunity to do so."
BRASS KNEW OF CRASH
December 2000 copy photo of New Jersey State Trooper William Billingham as he is installed as Worshipful Master in the Ionic (Masonic) Lodge No. 94 F. & A.M.Memos showed ranking State Police officers including Fuentes were aware of the crash, although Tanksley was left in the dark about Billingham’s identity or the ongoing investigation.
The New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is also raising concerns about the crash. It has sent a letter to Attorney General Paula Dow calling for a "thorough investigation" and "swift action."
"Indeed, it appears that either intentional or negligent actions (or inactions) of superiors added to the extent of wrongdoing," wrote Ed Barocas, the ACLU-NJ’s legal director.
"When officers attempt to act under a shroud of secrecy so as to shield themselves and the wrongdoing of fellow officers from public review," he said, "it engenders only distrust and disdain from its citizenry."
Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the attorney general, said Dow was briefed on the investigation on Monday, but declined to release further details.
"She wanted to go over all the facts and was concerned about the allegations that are out there," he said. "She wants to get to the root of the matter."
PREVIOUS INCIDENTS
Alcohol-related incidents have been an embarrassment for the State Police in the past.
Seven troopers were suspected of sexually assaulting a college student after drinking at a Trenton bar in 2007. The troopers maintained their innocence and were eventually suspended without pay but never criminally charged.
Last month, an administrative law judge recommended a seven-month suspension for trooper Sheila McKaig, who was caught drinking and driving three times in 2008 by local police without getting a ticket.
After the third stop, troopers picked her up at the police station in Hamilton Township in Atlantic County, and her superior officers referred her to counseling without issuing disciplinary charges, according to the judge’s report. She later faced internal charges after an anonymous letter alleged a cover-up.