A New Jersey police officer has been allowed to return to work after previously being fired for using an anti-gay slur while on duty.
Roselle Police Chief Stacey Williams was fired and had his law enforcement licence suspended in 2024.
At the time, an investigation by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office found that Williams had used offensive language, including an anti-gay slur, while referring to other officers during an on-duty conversation in October 2022.
Williams was also accused of “abusive, retaliatory, and bizarre behaviour” by the local Policemen’s Benevolent Association union.
Williams challenged his termination, and in May 2025, a judge threw out the majority of the disciplinary charges against him.
His punishment was then reduced to a 30-day suspension.
While it was found that Williams had used the F-slur during the October 2022 conversation, Administrative Law Judge Thomas R. Betancourt found in a January 2025 hearing that the use of the word had been “overstated”.
Betancourt also found that it was “neither discriminatory nor targeted toward another officer or specific individual in such a manner exhibiting homophobia or disapproval of those who identify as homosexual”, according to the New Jersey Monitor.
That decision was later upheld by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission.
As a result, the New Jersey Police Training Commission reinstated Williams’ licence earlier this month.
As of 9 June, he was able to return to his position as police chief.
Lawyer Peter Paris, who represents the Roselle Policemen’s Benevolent Association, told NJ.com in February that allowing Williams to return to duty would be a “travesty”.
The case has drawn attention to how police departments handle anti-LGBTQ+ language within their ranks, and how disciplinary decisions can be reversed through appeals and civil service processes.
