CBS New York Investigates: Controversial police trainer was disciplined for alleged racial slur, other incidents
NEW YORK -- How did a former New Jersey police officer, who was disciplined three times in a period of five years, go on to train thousands of officers while charging local governments thousand of dollars?
It's a question CBS New York has been asking during its months-long investigation, which found that the head of a controversial police training company was once accused of using a racial slur by his own department.
CBS New York Investigates first started looking into Street Cop Training in December, after the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller said the company taught unconstitutional policing tactics at a 2021 conference in Atlantic City. A report from the comptroller described comments at the conference as "lewd," "disparaging," and "glorifying violence."
"I would be remiss if I didn't remind you, or let you know, that I have a three-inch (expletive)," Brad Gilmore of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office said onstage.
"I love fighting. I love shooting," said conference speaker Tim Kennedy, who later told CBS New York he believes police need a "warrior mindset if they are going to survive."
"I watch this car come off the highway, and I eye-(expletive) the (expletive) out of the female driver," said Robert Ferreiro of the Warren Township Police Department. "She doesn't want to (expletive) me back though."
Watch: Tim McNicholas on the months-long investigation
The comptroller's office said one of the videos it released showed the company's founder, Dennis Benigno, describing people who record interactions with police.
"Shut the (expletive) up, right?," Benigno said to participants. "About to get pepper sprayed, (expletive) Tased. Windows broken out, mother (expletive)."
Years before that, Benigno was a street cop himself -- a Woodbridge Township police officer for 10 years.
Attorney Cynthia Hardaway represented three women in a 2015 lawsuit accusing Benigno and other officers of excessive force, racial bias and false arrests during an incident at a local mall. Woodbridge Township paid $50,000 to settle before it went to trial.
Benigno never admitted to any wrongdoing.
"I just didn't understand it," Hardaway said of the moment she learned Benigno went on to train police. "What he was doing in that training session is giving insight into what type of officer he is and how he feels."
"I don't want a hero's exit," Benigno said at the conference. "I want to (expletive) die at like 91 with hookers and cocaine around me."'
Woodbridge police say Benigno retired from the department at age 33 within weeks of that suit being filed, but CBS New York wanted to know more about his record before he retired.
At first, Woodbridge police denied CBS New York Investigates' request for his Internal Affairs records, but the department eventually released records showing he was disciplined by the department three times from late 2009 through March of 2014.
In 2009, another cop from out of town said that, at a bar, Benigno used an Italian racial slur to describe Black people he chased on the job, which that out-of-town cop recounted to Internal Affairs investigators in Woodbridge in interview recordings obtained by CBS New York Investigates.
"That's when he started talking about, basically how great he was and how he ... that's when he said now he's up here chasing around (expletive)," the officer said.
Benigno denied using the slur but a lieutenant from Internal Affairs wrote in a report, "It's obvious Officer Dennis Benigno was being less than forthcoming in his answer," and "...what degree of confidence can one have regarding Benigno's ability to be impartial in his dealings with African-Americans..."
"Why would these people that don't even know you want to make something like this up?" an Internal Affairs investigator asked Benigno.
"I don't know. I don't know," Benigno replied.
He later pleaded guilty to violating department conduct standards and Woodbridge police say he was suspended for 10 days.
That's what the state calls major discipline, which only about 1% of New Jersey cops face per year, according to recent data.
"Should that have been a red flag before he started to train police officers?" CBS New York Investigates' Tim McNicholas asked New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin.
"I can't speak to the particular case, but it does sound like something that would give some concerns," Platkin said.
Years later, in 2021, a monkey was displayed onscreen while one of Benigno's Street Cop instructors -- a Robbinsville, New Jersey sergeant -- described a Black man in a traffic stop.
"That's not an 18-year-old kid dressed like Jesus coming eastbound out of Trenton," Robbinsville Sgt. Scott Kivet said. "It's a 75-year-old Black man with a change in driving behavior."
Platkin said the 240 New Jersey cops who attended that 2021 conference will be re-trained.
"I've made it very clear to all 38,000 sworn (New Jersey) officers and their leadership that no one should be attending Street Cop Training in the State of New Jersey," he said.
As Street Cop promotes its upcoming training sessions, other leaders are concerned, too.
The State of Minnesota said the company is no longer accredited by its police training board.
Platkin said he's told New Jersey's Police Training Commission to take a close look at the issue.
"That work is ongoing, but I anticipate they will put out new rules for outside vendors more broadly that will hopefully ensure what happened with Street Cop doesn't happen again," Platkin said.
Robbinsville police said Sgt. Kivet is now facing an Internal Affairs investigation and he did not respond to our interview requests for this story. Neither did Benigno and his attorney.
Benigno did post a video in response to the comptroller report, apologizing for the offensive language and denying that Street Cop ever taught unconstitutional policing. He also said the company has put in place "quality control measures to foster a cooperative environment."
"We want police officer to have the highest level of professionalism" Benigno said on the video.
But professionalism is not a word the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office uses to describe the actions of Reserve Deputy Shawn Pardazi, a private police trainer who instructed at the 2021 Street Cop Conference.
Dash-camera video shows Pardazi firing several bullets at a reported stolen car as it drove away from a traffic stop in 2022.
The sheriff's office never found the gun Pardazi said the driver pointed, and police arrested Pardazi for illegal use of a weapon and obstruction of justice. A grand jury will soon decide whether charges should be filed.
Pardazi, who was fired after police learned he livestreamed the incident on Facebook, said the following on stage at that 2021 Street Cop Conference: "Run from me, somewhere along the chase becomes, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow."
Pardazi's lawyer told CBS New York he was justified. No one was injured in that shooting.
But Hardaway is worried there might be a next time for another Street Cop participant. And how that next time might end.
"For other people who have to encounter an officer on the street with that mentality, it might be something way worse than us just sitting here having a conversation," she said.
In 2016, Benigno sued one of Hardaway's clients who had sued him when he was a cop, claiming she caused him to suffer injuries that day. That was also settled before a trial.
On Street Cop's website, Benigno is described as someone who won numerous awards as a police officer and now leads one of the fastest-growing police training companies in the country.
The other two disciplinary actions against Benigno in the records released to CBS New York are both Letters of Reprimand. One was for allegedly rear-ending a car he was pulling over.
The other letter was issued after Internal Affairs investigators said Benigno opened a barbershop with a convicted felon before he properly notified his bosses about it, which is against department policy.
The comptroller's office estimates Street Cop earned $75,000 from New Jersey police departments and governments who sent officers to the 2021 conference, and at least $320,000 from New Jersey departments for other training sessions between 2019 and 2022.
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