A New Jersey-based police training firm singled out in a government watchdog report for its “vulgar” and “unconstitutional” lessons has since relocated to Florida and declared chapter 11 bankruptcy as officials in at least nine states move to ban Street Cop Training from instructing officers, NJ.com reported. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin this week directed any Garden State police officers who attended Street Cop’s 2021 conference in Atlantic City to undergo mandatory re-training in Trenton in March and steer clear of the company going forward. That order followed a scathing New Jersey State Comptroller report, released in December, that found conference speakers “promoted likely illegal tactics, glorified violence and demeaned women and minorities.” The report drew national attention as videos spread of invited speakers remarking on the size of their penises, mocking suspects and motorists with lewd images and memes and complaining about police oversight. Now, several states have prohibited officers from attending Street Cop trainings, including Minnesota, Missouri, Maryland, Illinois, California, Oregon, Nevada, Michigan and New Jersey, according to court filings. Facing a shrunken customer base and more investigations, Street Cop founder Dennis Benigno, a former Woodbridge police officer, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy for the firm in a Florida federal court earlier this month, citing continued “harassment from the State of New Jersey” among the sources of the firm’s financial woes.
