Trenton mayor, police director promise changes after report found officers frequently use excessive force, violate rights

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Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora and Police Director Steve Wilson held a news conference at City Hall on Friday to discuss plans and policies that have been implemented to improve police operations in the city.

“We’ve also contracted out to a third-party accreditation body to make sure we meet and exceed the appropriate police standards, and we’ve increased both training and supervision to ensure that our police officers are fully prepared to serve with integrity and respect for all citizens,” Gusciora said.

Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice released a 45-page report that found the Trenton police department routinely made improper arrests, with officers frequently using excessive force and conducting traffic stops and searches without a warrant, violating the Fourth Amendment rights of residents.

Police Director Steve Wilson said his department is making changes to bring down the incidents of use of excessive force cited in the DOJ report.

“Every officer receives in-person use of force vehicle pursuit and domestic violence training on a semi-annual basis,” he said. “Since 2021, all police officers have completed de-escalation training and tactics on officer intervention and to prevent harm.”

The DOJ report, which reviewed activities between October 2023 and November 2024, found officers “frequently grab, tackle and punch people who show little resistance to order or pose no threat.”

Wilson said even before the DOJ report was issued, the violent crimes unit and the street crimes unit had been disbanded.

He said the internal affairs department is now conducting additional reviews of all use of force and pursuit incidents.

“This was instituted prior to the report being issued,” he said.

Wilson added that all Trenton police officers are now required to undergo annual sensitivity and diversity, equity and inclusion training, and Trenton has a citizen’s police academy, where residents get training about how the department functions, which expands community outreach.

The city is also partnering with mental health professionals in the Arrive Together program, to reduce the chance of violence when law enforcement responds to mental health incidents.

“We’re not going to rest on the buzz out of Washington that civil rights does not matter any longer, we take that very seriously and we continue to even diversify our police department,” Gusciora said.

Austin Edwards, the president of the NAACP branch of Trenton, said he’s hoping the police department does reform itself.

“What we need is an overhaul of the entire police department, from internal investigations, from our leadership, from our entire culture,” he said.

Edwards said the Trenton NAACP continues to call on director Wilson to resign.

“Unfortunately, some of the units he was saying we disbanded, he was a part of himself, and [he] specifically promoted people within those units to positions of leadership today, so we can’t necessarily trust such leadership and such vision,” he said.  “People refer to us as a zoo, and they’re coming to round up the animals, so that’s the culture change we need across the board in the police department.”

Gusciora said two Black women and one Latina are now Lieutenants in the Trenton police force, and that the department “remains fully committed to providing residents with top-notch public safety while ensuring that Constitutional rights are always protected.”

Wilson said over the past two years the Trenton police department has solved 89% of all homicide investigations, and the murder rate in the city has declined 49%. He also said complaints about the police are down.

But, Edwards said just because the complaints have reduced, it doesn’t necessarily mean crime is down or change is happening,

“It’s just people aren’t trusting police in the first place,” he said.

Gusciora said city officials continue to have constructive dialogue with the DOJ about improving the police department.