Trenton police see uptick in officers using force as leaders tout improvements: "Trying to protect the public"

In the summer of 2026, Trenton city leaders celebrated an achievement they had been working on for more than a year.

The police department received state accreditation, which the mayor and police director have proclaimed demonstrates that officers have implemented modern policing practices.

However, a 19-month CBS News Philadelphia investigation found the department has experienced a recent uptick in the number of times its officers have used force on civilians — the same issue that led federal prosecutors to begin investigating the department nearly three years ago.

CBS News Philadelphia also spoke to criminal defense attorneys who claim the department is still violating the civil rights of citizens during recent arrests.

City leaders defended the department, arguing that officers are policing Trenton with the "best of intentions."

This investigation is based on dozens of pages of government and court documents, detailed reviews of multiple police body camera videos and interviews with city leaders, members of the police department, criminal defense attorneys and people who've interacted on the streets with Trenton's officers.

"At least, I'm still alive."

It was just after midnight on Feb. 12, 2022, when Jajuan Henderson said two men dressed in black walked up to him while he was sitting in the driver's seat of his parked car.

"I didn't know who they was," Henderson recalled. "So, I got scared."

One of the men shouted to Henderson, "Put your windows down! Yo, put your windows down!"

The man had his right hand by his side, on top of his holstered gun.

Two other men walked up behind Henderson's car.

What happened next was captured by body cameras worn by all four men.

They were Trenton police detectives who were members of the department's Street Crimes Unit.  

Until he spoke exclusively with CBS News Philadelphia, Henderson had never granted an interview with news media to discuss what happened that night. 

Nearly three minutes after detectives first ordered him to roll his windows down, Henderson cracked open his driver's side window.

"What's your name, man?" a detective asked.

Henderson responded, "I said, 'I did not do anything.'"

"We know that. We know that," the detective responded.

Another detective added, "We just need you to step out of the car, that's it."

During this time, detectives refused to tell Henderson why they pulled up on him, according to a review later conducted by federal prosecutors.

"They was telling me to get out of the car, but they was aggressive," Henderson said.

Nearly four minutes after the encounter began, a detective began banging on Henderson's driver's side window.

"I didn't get out the car because I thought they was going to shoot me," Henderson said. "Wondering why they shoot me anyway."

After multiple attempts, the detective shattered the window, prompting Henderson to scream.  

"You're under arrest," the detective said.

"For what, yo?" Henderson asked.

Henderson started up the car.

"Back up! Back up!" the detective exclaimed.

Henderson accelerated forward, but he was parallel parked between two cars, so he smashed into the car right in front of him.

He then threw the car in reverse and accelerated into the car parked behind him.

Body camera video showed the detective who smashed Henderson's window pulled out his gun and shot Henderson four times. 

"I didn't hear no gunshots. I didn't even feel it," Henderson said. "When I got in the ambulance, they was like, 'You paralyzed.'"

Henderson was later arrested, though his charges were ultimately dismissed.

According to his arrest warrant at the time, detectives ultimately found nothing illegal in his car. No officers were injured.

Henderson now requires a motorized wheelchair and intensive care.

"After a while, I accepted it," Henderson said. "Like, at least I'm still alive."

Pattern or Practice

Federal prosecutors cited Henderson's case as part of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into how Trenton's police officers use force when arresting people.

In a 45-page report released on Nov. 21, 2024, during the final months of President Joe Biden's administration, investigators described a five-year trend of officers stopping and arresting people without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, while using so much force on people that it violated their constitutional rights.  

Within the pages of the report, the DOJ included photos of use-of-force incidents that were taken from officers' body cameras between 2018 and 2023. According to the report, the city is 85% Black and Hispanic, which meant many of the cited incidents involved people of color.

In one case, federal prosecutors said an officer thought a 16-year-old boy had a gun, so he chased him down, grabbed him by his neck and slammed him onto the hood of a car. However, the DOJ report noted that the teenager didn't have a weapon.

The DOJ noted the city and its police department cooperated with its investigators.

Ultimately, prosecutors recommended 26 changes to the department's policies and training.

However, the DOJ retracted those recommendations nearly six months later, after President Donald Trump took office.

It also dismissed lawsuits against Louisville and Minneapolis' police departments while tossing out investigations into other departments, including Phoenix and Memphis.

A DOJ spokeswoman emailed a statement saying, "The Department of Justice assessed the merits of the Trenton investigative finding, as we did on a case-by-case basis for other matters. We assessed verifiable records for sufficiently rigorous investigation and appropriate application of the law, and reached our determination consistent with this review.  Applicable privileges prevent us from disclosing the specific internal consideration of the TPD investigation."

Achieving accreditation

In June 2026, the police department received accreditation from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police. 

"We have already made much of the recommendations that the DOJ has laid out for us," Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora (D) said. "We take it very seriously to reinforce protecting person's constitutional rights."

While city leaders agreed to cooperate with the DOJ and later described how the department embraced its recommendations, they still criticized the DOJ's report for not acknowledging the improvements the department had already made.

"The majority of our police are doing with the best of intentions, trying to protect the public," Mayor Gusciora said. "To narrow it to a handful of officers, that shouldn't reflect the whole department."

He said officers must now undergo more training, and the department restructured its internal affairs bureau.

On some calls, officers are being paired up with mental health professionals to better interact with those who have mental illnesses.

"We want to make sure that a person's constitutional rights are protected," Mayor Gusciora said. "But most importantly, that we still continue to have safe neighborhoods."

Use of force uptick

While the department is celebrating its accreditation, it's also facing an uptick in the number of times its officers use force.

According to data updated monthly by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, officers are reporting more use-of-force incidents during the first six months of 2026 than they did during the same time period in 2025 and at a rate that's on pace with 2024.

"What happened in February, we had a spike in domestic violence assaults in progress," Steve Wilson, Trenton's police director, explained.

Still, Wilson believes the department will end the year with lower use-of-force numbers than the previous year.

Since the DOJ released its report in November 2024, Wilson said the number of incidents when his officers used force dropped 32%, which bears out when comparing the total number of incidents between 2024 and 2025.

"The police department stands with the community," Wilson said. "We are here to help with public safety and make the city of Trenton a better place."

However, Robin Lord, an experienced criminal defense attorney who was interviewed by the DOJ for its report, argued that it's not getting better for her clients.

"I think they're being trained to use different methods that similarly violate individual's civil rights," Lord said. "As opposed to the methods that they've used."

She represents several people who, she said, have been illegally yanked out of their cars and searched by officers.

"The overall mentality has not changed," Lord said. "The police believe that they're above the law and that they believe they have the right to do basically whatever they want."

Wilson disagreed with Lord's assessment.

"That's what they get paid for to make those types of claims," Wilson said. "Each case should be judged on a case-by-case basis."

Trenton detective charged

One case currently making its way through the court system involves Aaron Bernstein, a veteran Trenton police detective, who's accused of using excessive force during an arrest.

A Mercer County grand jury indicted Bernstein in April 2026 on allegations that he violated the state's use-of-force policy when he pepper-sprayed a man and then lied about the incident in court documents.

Bernstein's attorney also happens to be Lord, who didn't make him available for an interview because the case is still pending.

She told CBS News Philadelphia that the man who was pepper sprayed had threatened Bernstein, and a sergeant later signed off on Bernstein's decision to use force. She said she believes the department is retaliating against Bernstein because he's currently suing them, claiming he was the victim of antisemitism.

"We do need to do better" 

Captain Jason Woodhead represents officers ranked sergeant and above as president of Trenton's Superior Officers Association.

He told CBS News Philadelphia that officers do need to do better "in terms of speaking to people and language."

"These officers don't come here looking to hurt people," Captain Woodhead said. "I know that. I see it every day."  

While the department recently hired 32 new officers, both Woodhead and Wilson said the department is still well below its minimum staffing level.

They explained that this leads to officers working longer shifts, which can add to their stress and exhaustion, and, according to Wilson during the first of two on-camera interviews with CBS News Philadelphia, it can lead to his officers responding emotionally.

"In an urban area with a police department that's severely undermanned," Wilson said. "You got to remember also that police officers also go through stress just like the citizens do."

A CBS News Philadelphia reporter asked, "Is an officer struggling with stress a good reason to use pepper spray on someone?"

Wilson responded, "No, but you got to remember that officers are human too, and they respond emotionally sometimes."

$7 million for misconduct complaints

But emotional responses have become costly for the department, according to DOJ prosecutors.

Federal investigators found the city has had to pay more than $7 million to settle officer misconduct complaints.

The report detailed an incident in July 2020 when prosecutors said officers unnecessarily escalated an argument with Joseph Ahr, 64, while trying to search for one of his family members.  

Body camera video showed officers eventually slamming him into the ground and pepper spraying him.

Ahr died 18 days later from respiratory failure.

Lord, who's also representing the Ahr family, said they recently settled a lawsuit against the city, but the amount hasn't been announced yet.

The amount would be in addition to the more than $7 million in settlements paid out by the city.

Among those who received a financial settlement was Jajuan Henderson.

Despite a grand jury determining the detective was justified in shooting him, the city council agreed to settle a lawsuit Henderson filed for $3 million.

As part of the agreement, the city does not admit any wrongdoing.  

The money still isn't enough to cover all of Henderson's future medical bills, so he's on a tight budget, according to his attorney.

Henderson's now working to regain his strength.

"I was just happy that I could still be in my daughter's life," Henderson said. "I made it."