New Jersey police officer who used anti-gay slur on duty allowed back to work
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A New Jersey police officer has been allowed to return to work after previously being fired for using an anti-gay slur while on duty.
Roselle police chief Stacey Williams was fired and had his law enforcement license suspended in 2024.
An investigation at the time by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office revealed that he had used offensive language, including an anti-gay slur, while referring to other officers in an on-duty conversation in October 2022. Williams was also accused of “abusive, retaliatory, and bizarre behaviour” by the local Policemen’s Benevolent Association union.
Williams challenged his termination, and in May 2025, a judge threw out the majority of the disciplinary charges against him. His punishment was then reduced to a 30-day suspension.
While it was found that Williams had used the F-slur during the October 2022 conversation, Administrative Law Judge Thomas R. Betancourt found in a January 2025 hearing that the use of the word was “overstated” and that it was “neither discriminatory nor targeted toward another officer or specific individual in such a manner exhibiting homophobia or disapproval of those who identify as homosexual”, reported the New Jersey Monitor.
This decision was then upheld by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission.
As a result, the New Jersey Police Training Commission reinstated Williams’ license earlier this month and, as of 9 June, he was able to return to his position as police chief.
Lawyer for the Roselle Policemen’s Benevolent Association, Peter Paris, told NJ.com in February that allowing Williams’ return to duty would be a “travesty”.
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