Former N.J. Officer Says He Was Punished for Not Writing Enough Tickets

William Pepe alleges he was subjected to a hostile and retaliatory work environment that led to “work-related mental health issues” and his resignation from the Pompton Lakes Police Department.

William Pepe says the problems had existed for at least a year when the chief of police ordered Pepe into his office to scold him for not writing enough traffic tickets. Pepe, who was the Pompton Lakes Police Department’s only Black officer at the time, said the meeting was part of a pattern of disparate treatment he endured on the job and at the hands of Chief Derek Clark.

It is one of several allegations Pepe, 41, made in a legal notice announcing that he intends to sue the borough, its council and police department, alleging that his career trajectory “came to a grinding halt” after he expressed concerns to his union about his supervisors’ conduct. Pepe alleges he was subjected to a hostile and retaliatory work environment that led to “work-related mental health issues” and culminated in his “constructive termination,” which occurs when an employer’s conduct effectively forces an employee to resign.

“The race and disability discrimination and harassment were so severe, and the ongoing retaliation was so intense, that he had no option but to quit,” his attorney said in the legal filing, known as a notice of tort claim.

Pepe, who under New Jersey law has to wait six months after sending the notice to file the suit, plans to seek at least $2.5 million in damages.

The police department, which has 24 officers, said it had no comment about the allegations in the claim.

Erik DeLine, president of the borough council, said: “Beyond the fact the claims are entirely false and that the Borough will vigorously defend itself and its officers, I have no further comment.”

Pepe, who is an Army veteran, joined the department in 2015 and was promoted to the detective bureau four years later, he said in an interview and in the notice of tort claim. He was also assigned to the narcotics task force at the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and was a firearms instructor for the police department.

But he alleges that he was reassigned to the patrol division in 2021 in retaliation for saying that he wanted to file a grievance with the department’s union because he had twice been “forced” to stay home from work for an extended period and to use sick days when his son was sick, even though both had tested negative for Covid-19.

Lt. Anthony Rodriguez, whom Pepe described as Clark’s “right hand man,” tried to discourage him from filing a grievance at a union meeting in the spring of 2021, Pepe said. Then an “extremely aggressive and intimidating” Clark warned him the department would fight the grievance.

“Browbeaten and fearful of retaliation,” the notice says, Pepe decided against filing the grievance. He was reassigned to the less prestigious patrol post a month later.

Clark and Rodriguez said they had no comment about the allegations in Pepe’s notice.

Pepe said Clark forced him to disclose what was supposed to be a confidential conversation with the department’s resiliency program officer about his mental state after the demotion. According to Pepe, Clark later warned other officers that they could be disciplined if they had similar conversations with the officer, who is a confidential resource with whom officers can discuss professional or personal matters.

Clark also lectured him about writing too few tickets on patrol, Pepe alleges, and threatened to put him on a performance improvement plan. According to Pepe, Clark and Rodriguez repeatedly told him that the mayor and borough council were unhappy with the department’s ticket numbers and that if they did not improve, the council may “mess with your healthcare” during contract negotiations. He said in the legal notice that officers who wrote fewer tickets did not receive the same dressing down and warning.

On another occasion, he received a written reprimand for giving away department property after he said he gave the Velcro badge from his uniform to a 4-year-old boy whose mother told Pepe the boy wanted to be a police officer. The badge can be purchased by anyone at a police uniform store, Pepe and the notice of tort claim said.

He said in an interview that he believes the retribution was partly motivated by race. Pepe said he was the department’s only Black officer when he resigned and only the second Black officer in its history.

Pompton Lakes has a population of roughly 11,000 and is about 30 miles from Manhattan. About 84% of its residents are white, and less than 1% are Black or African American.

“Policing has ultimately come down to if you’re a part of the good old boys club,” he said. “That’s what it really comes down to. It’s not about the public anymore. They’re putting their own interests first, before everybody else, and they’ll do whatever they’ve got to do, just like they did to me, to get a guy out.”

The constant harassment and “barrage of indignities” wore on Pepe and began to affect his personal life, the notice of tort claim says. He later failed a fitness for duty test and was required to complete inpatient treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in first responders and veterans. While on leave, he learned that he was the subject of five internal investigations for various violations of department policy, all of which he disputes.

When he returned to work after treatment and a separate surgery, according to the notice, he requested a “light duty assignment” and was offered a position in night dispatch.

“Claimant’s dispatch work assignment was another clear indication of disparate treatment and further retaliation,” according to the tort claim. “Specifically, between September 2022 through February 2023, four other officers (all of whom were white, and none of whom had angered Chief Clark due to their union advocacy) were fully accommodated and placed on true light duty. They were assigned to do ‘busy work’ in the Department during the day shift.”

None of the white officers was required to work the overnight dispatch shift, “which was extremely busy and mentally taxing,” according to the tort notice.

Pepe submitted his resignation in January.

“At that point, I felt so pressured and I felt just so beaten down by the process that it’s like, there’s nothing I can do,” he said.