WASHINGTON — Technical issues limited the use of some mounted police cameras purchased by Union City with federal grant money, and “streaming and recording of video” has not gone as planned, according to a federal audit.
At times, the cameras failed to capture images that could have been useful in criminal investigations, the review found.
Union City, with about 66,000 residents, is one of the nation’s most densely populated municipalities. It’s the city about five miles west of Manhattan where disgraced former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, serving 11 years in federal prison on a bribery conviction, got his start in politics. Menendez, a Democrat, helped to secure the camera funding, according to a 2022 news release.
The Department of Justice’s inspector general examined two community policing grants worth $2.3 million to Union City and its police department. The Union City Police Department includes about 200 officers.
The auditors questioned how the city had used almost 75% of the funding — $1,696,808 — “due to a lack of procurement oversight and documentation.” Among their eight recommendations were steps to sort out the questionable costs, which include about $924,000 in purchases and roughly $773,000 to help run equipment.
The city’s chief financial officer, Tammy Zucca, and police chief, Walter Laurencio, agreed with the report findings. The money in question, they told the auditors, went to vendors on a New Jersey state government list.
“The State of NJ handles all the bidding procedures on behalf of all NJ local governments to make the purchasing of various goods more efficient for each municipality,” they wrote the inspector general in April. “We have all the backup for the type of equipment purchased as well as the invoices, purchase orders and signatures required.”
Zucca and Laurencio said city officials would make changes, including adopting a conflict-of-interest policy and updating a system for recording grant expenditures.
Laurencio said he met with two officers, one in charge of digital technology and the other tasked with overseeing the grants. “After speaking with both officers and hearing their explanations, I am satisfied with their responses,” Laurencio wrote.
The cameras had been installed in interview rooms, on police buildings and on Bergenline and Central avenues, among other locations. Federal auditors checked whether the equipment was functioning with existing police technology.
“While on site with Union City police officers, we inspected examples of the cameras purchased with the grant,” the auditors wrote. “[P]olice officers demonstrated for us the city’s video management system that allows officers to view live streamed and recorded videos. However, during these demonstrations, we noticed videos from some cameras were not able to be seen.”
The officers said that was because of interference and wireless capacity issue, and that Union City was working with the vendor on a solution.
The auditors added: “The officers also told us that, related to these technical issues, there have been instances when recordings were unavailable for criminal investigations that occurred near a camera.”
Menendez and fellow Democrat, Sen. Cory Booker, obtained $1.1 million in earmarked funding in the 2022 federal budget cycle for Union City to purchase closed-circuit television equipment. The next budget cycle, federal lawmakers obtained $1.2 million for Union City to purchase radio equipment, appropriations records show.
