Cherry Hill Police Get OK to Mislead During Investigations

Citing a need to protect undercover officers and other day-to-day police work, the Cherry Hill township council this week finalized an ordinance amending the police department’s code of conduct to allow officers to lie to suspects during the course of their jobs.

The new language, which was cleared both by the township’s legal staff as well as the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, strips out language that was in conflict with what the state supreme court has ruled permissible, and makes dishonesty OK “as necessary in the course of conducting an investigation or as authorized by the courts.”

The amending ordinance didn’t come out of any legal challenge to police work in the past, Chief Richard DelCampo said, but was more a protective measure to shield the department.

“We didn’t want an attorney to grab our stuff and say, ‘Look, it says right here you’re in violation’,” he said.

It’s also is similar to changes being made at departments elsewhere, given what courts have said is allowable, said Capt. William Monaghan.

“It’s language that would help an officer against cross-examination,” he said. “It protects the officers and clears up that conflicting language.”

Monaghan gave the hypothetical example of an investigation of a stolen car parked outside a motel, where officers could use a made-up emergency to get people out of their rooms, then make an arrest when someone went to the stolen car.

“It could be something as simple as that, or as extreme as undercover work,” he said.

While the ordinance got unanimous support from the township council, it had at least one detractor from the public.

Republican township council candidate Stephen Cohen, who referenced his connections to military, legal and law enforcement agencies, said the ordinance doesn’t respect local officers in how it’s worded.

“It does a disservice to our police officers, who have a very hard job, and they do it very well, when you present to the public an ordinance that says that…they can basically lie,” he said. “While this may be necessary, I think it’s poorly written. I understand that it’s the way the state does it, but that doesn’t mean we should do it that way in Cherry Hill.”