A small NAACP conference Monday included ginormous demands for City of Trenton officials. Austin Edwards, president of the city-based organization, called for an immediate termination or resignation of Trenton Police Director Steven Wilson. Edwards blamed Wilson for a Justice Department Civil Rights determination that the Trenton Police Department and the City of Trenton engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. “Director Wilson has been at the helm of this organization that has been committing illegal acts over the course of the majority of the Justice Department’s five-year look back period,” Edwards alleged. Edwards spoke in front of the Trenton Police Department building on North Clinton Ave. in front of a small group interested in next steps after a Department of Justice 13-month investigation determined the Trenton Police Department unlawfully uses excessive force, including unreasonable forms of physical force and pepper spray in the absence of any significant resistance or danger. Greg Zeff, NAACP State Legal Redress Chair, said Trenton residents could provide city police officers with valuable insight regarding how to improve their law enforcement performances.(Laura Mora for The Trentonian) The DOJ established Trenton police conducts stops, searches, and arrests without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. The report identified deficiencies in training, supervision, policy and accountability that contribute to Trenton Police Department and the city’s unlawful behavior. The NAACP rep pressed for a community review board to review policies, practices, and actions of the Trenton Police Department and officers. A third demand said 2025 gubernatorial candidates should explain what they intend to do about the Trenton problem. Edwards said any hesitancy in responding to the DOJ findings and suggestions for reform could render the issue moot. “We can’t wait for a Trump administration, which has promised complete police immunity, to come in and simply sweep this issue under the rug,” Edwards warned. Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora met with city police officers on Friday but has yet to hold a public press conference about the Dept. of Justice probe. The second-term incumbent shows no sign of ending ties with Director Wilson. Gusciora remains loyal to Wilson despite numerous inner department scandals, including theft by conspiracy acts committed by three captains and one lieutenant who bargained for resignation instead of prosecution. Three other lower-ranked officers involved in the misrepresentation of vacation time collected suspension but remain on the force. A pending lawsuit by two female police officers alleges that a police captain stood naked in their presence inside a Trenton Police Department makeshift gym room. Greg Zeff, a NAACP State Regress chair said the Department of Justice findings exude familiarity. Zeff is the attorney for Jajuan Henderson, who was a 31-year-old in February 2022 when Trenton police officer Michael Gettler fired four shots into a vehicle during a traffic stop on Centre St. in Trenton, an action that paralyzed the motorist from the waist down. Zeff said video of the Henderson shooting underscores Trenton police officers’ history of escalation. A grand jury failed to indict Gettler. “The report that everybody has either seen or heard about is obviously nothing new,” said Zeff. The attorney who gained a $3 million settlement for Henderson in his lawsuit filed against the City of Trenton, said something “astounding” exists in the report. Darren “Freedom” Green, a community activist, added his voice to call for police reform through public empowerment at an NAACP press conference at Trenton Police Headquarters.(Laura Mora for The Trentonian) “They found that there is a pattern in practice of the Trenton Police Department violating people’s constitutional rights. That’s an enormous statement for the federal government to say about a police department.…That means that every one of us walking the streets of Trenton at any given time, will not be treated appropriately under the Constitution of the United States,” Zeff explained. Darren “Freedom” Green, a social activist, said the Department of Justice report detected “historical atrocities” being waged against Trenton residents without police being held accountable for many attacks of defenseless victims. “I want to be clear here,” warned Green. “We’re not here to play no games. We’re not here to have an emotional moment and then we go back to our communities as if things are okay. And the lives you read about in the report? That’s not data on paper, these are real people. “In the report, there’s a woman who was hit in the head over 15 times with a police officer’s walkie talkie. These are lives that have been forever impacted by what has occurred.” Green demanded more accountability, a monitor to oversee police performance, a citizen review board, and a strategic action plan that includes public oversight.