Policing the Pandemic: COVID-19 and Lockdown Enforcement in New Jersey

Of all stops where race was recorded, Black New Jerseyans comprised 50 percent of all individual stops, and 65 percent of individual stops where the race-ethnicity of the person was known (see slide 11 here).  

Black New Jerseyans were over-represented in stops for executive order enforcement at a rate four times higher than their relative population. In comparison, white residents were under-represented in the same type of stop by 0.27 percent (see slide 4 here). 

Black people were stopped at disproportionately higher rates than white people in every county where stops were recorded (see slide 15 here). In municipalities where Black people comprise less than 12 percent of the population, no stops were recorded at all (see slide 16 here).  

Putting aside data from Newark (see slide 20 here), available state-wide race information on summons and arrests show Black and brown individuals singled out disproportionately (see slide 15 here). While Black people comprise 13.5 percent of the total state population, they represented 81 percent of all COVID enforcement actions for which we have racial data. 16 percent of all COVID-related actions were taken against white people, despite comprising 57 percent of the total population. The figures for Latinx individuals were not as incongruent: 15 percent of COVID-related actions as compared to their 18 percent representation in the general population (see slide 11 here). 

In Newark, the racial distribution of charges and summons roughly follows trends in the general population: 50 percent of the population of Newark is Black and 58 percent of all COVID-related charges were brought against Black individuals (see slide 16 here). But the reality in other New Jersey communities looks radically different. For example, in Elizabeth, the fourth largest city in New Jersey, Black people comprise less than 20 percent of the population, and yet of the 28 incidents for which racial data is available, 26 involved Black individuals, or 92 percent of all police actions (see slide 21 here). In Trenton, where only 30 percent of the population is Black, every police record where race information was provided involved a Black person. 

The data shows that increased criminalization is also associated with police stops for executive order enforcement: 

Approximately 70 percent of recorded stops included some sort of punitive action – ranging from a summons to incarceration – while just over 26 percent of the stops resulted in no action being taken at all (see slide 4 here). 

Police stops of white residents were eight times more likely to have no punitive action taken compared to Black residents and 10 times more likely compared to Latinx residents (see slide 6 here). Asian residents were over 12 times more likely to have no punitive action taken compared to Black and Latinx residents.  

More than 50 individuals were additionally charged with terroristic threats (N.J.S. 2C:12-3) punishable by 3-5 years in prison and fines up to $15,000. Those charges were often combined with charges of assault on an officer (N.J.S 2C:12-1b (5)) which carries similar penalties. Other data showed municipalities adding charges for violations of Executive Order 103 on top of whatever alleged violation brought police to the scene. 

Project data suggests that more than 50 people were charged with making terroristic threats, with 40 percent of the charges concentrated in Hudson (6), Monmouth (5), Ocean (5), and Hunterdon (4) counties. In most of those cases, the terroristic threat charge was accompanied by at least one additional charge, often for a more serious offense. 

What were individuals doing when they were arrested or given a summons for violating COVID-restrictions? While the detailed data from Newark gives a sense of the breadth of these practices, the data suggests that in jurisdictions where police were active in enforcing COVID restrictions, they targeted just about anyone they chose to.  

As indicated in the data set, charged individuals were variously described as “gathering,” “hanging out,” “congregating,” “being outside,” “sitting,” “loitering at a bus stop,” “playing basketball,” “walking,” “driving in a car,” “walking along a street without purpose,” and “drinking in public” (see slide 8 here). By contrast, despite three separate citations, individuals found playing golf – much more clearly violating the executive order as opposed to “driving in a car,” were not even issued summonses. 

Twelve percent of all summonses were issued to individuals who were poor or fiscally vulnerable people. Described in police reports as panhandling, “asking for money,” or begging, more than half of incidents involved Black residents. Point Pleasant Beach police called in to shut off power to four tenants who were late with their payments also used the occasion to issue COVID violations (see slide 9 here). 

Not all jurisdictions took an aggressive approach to enforcing the executive order. Four jurisdictions in particular were outliers in their notable restraint and for the detail with which their stops and interactions were reported: Lyndhurst, Woodbridge, Hillside, and North Brunswick.  

All four towns provided thorough incident reports documenting COVID-related police responses during the period March to December 2020, but virtually no one was charged with an offense. While the circumstances of the incidents in these four towns closely paralleled incidents that formed the basis of the charges described previously, instead of issuing summonses or charging people with crimes, police in Lyndhurst, North Brunswick, and Hillside tended to inform individuals about the dangers of COVID, asked them to respect the mask and social distancing mandates, and proffered assistance when faced with the occasional COVID-related medical emergency. These interactions, as well as their reporting, were exemplary.