Newark Detective appeals termination

Newark Police Detective Moraima Medina who is listed on Gannett's "DataUniverse" site as having been in public service for 14 years and having made $86,376 in 2007, was fired in December 2008 for having a urine sample that tested positive for marijuana.

I have placed the Final Notice of Discipline on-line here.

The matter has been referred to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). The OAL has assigned Docket No. CSV1487-09 to the case, and, unless it settles, the matter will eventually be heard by an administrative judge, who will make a recommendation to the Department of Personnel affirming, modifying or reversing the discipline imposed.

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ABOUT ME AND WHY I'M POSTING THIS.

I chair the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project which seeks to increase governmental transparency and accountability, particularly at a local level.

As part of my work, I routinely check administrative Civil Service appeal dockets. Most often, the public does not get to see these records. I post them on-line for several reasons: a) because they sometimes reveal official wrongdoing by a government employee, b) because they sometimes suggest that a government agency is using the disciplinary process to retaliate (i.e. file trumped up charges) against an politically or otherwise unpopular employee and c) because these appeals and the underlying disciplinary charges cost public money and the taxpayers ought to be aware of how their money is being spent.

John Paff
Somerset, New Jersey