JCPD Lt. Terrence Crowley left Jersey City hours early on off-duty jobs, including night of historic blizzard

During a month-long investigation, Real Jersey City captured Lt. Terrence Crowley skipping town with at least an hour-and-a-half to go on all three of his off-duty supervisor assignments – going absent for approximately 25% of the time he was paid.

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While the city was preparing for one of the worst blizzards in the history of New Jersey, Jersey City Police Department (JCPD) Lt. Terrence Crowley was skipping town with hours to go on his off-duty supervisor job – not the only time he did that in the month of January.

Crowley, who serves as Sergeant at Arms for the Jersey City Police Superior Officers Association (JCPSOA), was paid $1,580.00 for 23 hours of work over three shifts – all of which he left with at least an hour-and-a-half remaining.

The first date was January 12, 2016, which upon information and belief, Crowley’s off-duty shift went from 3 P.M. to 11 P.M. Real Jersey City first spotted him going out on his assignment in a marked Special Patrol Bureau (SPB) vehicle at 4 P.M. towards the downtown area, not returning until approximately 6 P.M., and then leaving for his Ocean County home around 9:30 P.M.

On January 22, 2016, the night of the historic blizzard (before Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency), upon information and belief, Crowley was supposed to be working from 3 P.M. to 10 p.m. Real Jersey City observed him leaving around 7 p.m., and followed him through two EZ Pass lanes before heading back to Jersey City.

Finally, on January 27, 2016, upon information and belief, Crowley was working from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. He was captured going home at 9:20 p.m., heading south down the New Jersey Turnpike.

For all of the dates Crowley worked off-duty shifts, it’s believed that he was also working his regular shift earlier in the day – which supposedly runs from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

An Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request filed on February 19, 2016 with the Fulop Administration for regular and overtime timesheets, and off-duty pay vouchers (which specify hours worked), covering four months for ten JCPD officers, including Crowley, remains mostly unfulfilled.

No regular timesheets have been produced for any of the ten officers, and while numerous pay vouchers were produced for some of the officers, none have been released for Crowley. All that has been released are pay records for the hours worked, which coincides with the three days previously mentioned.

As reported by Real Jersey City, another OPRA request filed on January 4, 2016 centered around regular, overtime, and off-duty timesheets for officials from the JCPSOA produced two different responses of regular timesheets from the Fulop Administration for the same three officers, among other irregularities.

Requests have been made with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office (HCPO) to have the documents requested via OPRA secured, but they’ve been rejected.

According to city ordinance, superior officers are paid at a rate of $10.00 per hour higher than the highest paid off-duty police officer under their immediate supervision in a given off-duty assignment. At a November 2015 Jersey City Council meeting, the administrative fee charged to contractors was raised by 50% – from $8.00 to $12.00 per hour – to help cover costs for administrators and supervisors.

Of note, Public Safety Director James Shea is responsible for the JCPD off-duty jobs program. An email to Jersey City spokesperson Jennifer Morrill seeking request for comment on this story was not returned.

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