Three police officers from New Jersey who were suspended for using racial slurs, including the “n-word,” back in 2019 have appealed their suspensions and managed to rack up over $2.6 million in salary during this time, including yearly raises.
Chief Pedro Matos, Sergeant Joseph Teston, and Captain Vincent Consina have all been earning six figures for the last five years.
They were initially suspended in 2020 and are currently entangled in a lawsuit with the town, seeking to be reinstated, as reported by NJ.com.
A police whistleblower had secretly recorded Matos and Teston making racist remarks in 2019. Matos, for example, was heard talking about reopening an investigation into a 2017 discrimination incident related to a black doll found hanging in a local high school.
In a different audio recording, Teston made derogatory comments about a black suspect, referring to him in a degrading manner.
As for their salaries, Matos currently makes $195,995 annually, which is an 18.9% increase since his suspension, costing taxpayers around $979,278. Consina earns $178,979, an increase of 18.8%, totaling $894,641. Meanwhile, Teston is set to receive $147,556 in 2025, marking a 14.7% raise during his suspension, adding up to $744,626.
This all adds up to more than $2.6 million in costs to New Jersey taxpayers, averaging about $22,000 every two weeks.
The officers argue in their lawsuit that the prosecutors delayed finishing the investigation into the misconduct claims for over 18 months, only filing charges in 2023.
Due to the extended delay, their attorneys believe no disciplinary action should be taken for the behavior captured in those recordings. Interestingly, the township paid the whistleblower a $400,000 settlement to keep quiet in 2020.
Although Consina wasn’t directly recorded using a slur, he was accused of retaliating against Lieutenant Antonio Manata, the whistleblower who brought the other officers’ behavior to light.
