Defunded

A controversial law enforcement training firm, whose activities have entangled the Warren Township Police Department, has filed for bankruptcy.

One of the owed creditors, according to the bankruptcy filing, is another firm owned by the WTPD’s anticipated next chief.

The training firm – Street Cop Training – filed for bankruptcy in Florida in late January claiming between $500,000 and $1 million in liabilities. That same filing totals Street Cop’s assets at $50,000 or less. The paperwork was filed by Dennis Benigno, Street Cop’s founder and CEO.

One of the specific debts listed is $3,710 owed to RVS Group, located in Warren Township. Robert Ferreiro, a WTPD police lieutenant, is listed as RVS’ registered agent on the website http://www.bizapedia.com/

Street Cop’s bankruptcy filing categorizes the funds owed to RVS as “Trade Services.” There are no further details.

In October 2022, Ferreiro contributed $1,000 to the political campaign of Warren Township Committeewoman Lisa Lontai. In a state Election Law Enforcement Commission filing, the Lontai campaign reported Ferreiro’s employer as RVS Group, rather than the WTPD.

Street Cop’s ability to generate a profit took a sizable hit more than two months ago. In early December, the New Jersey Comptroller’s Office released a report critical of the firm’s October 2021 conference held in Atlantic City.

The comptroller alleged that lessons imparted there included content that is discriminatory, unconstitutional and misogynistic. Ferreiro was one of numerous instructors named in the state report.

Ferreiro has been associated with Street Cop, apparently as a side job, for several years, according to past online course listings, graphics and videos.

Ferreiro was selected in October as the WTPD’s next chief by the Warren Township Committee. At that time, his swearing in was scheduled for Dec. 31 to succeed retiring Police Chief William Keane.

But two weeks after the release of the comptroller’s report, Ferreiro’s swearing in was rescheduled for Feb. 15, pending an internal affairs investigation. On Dec. 20, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald notified Warren officials that his department was assuming oversight of the WTPD.

Warren officials have not commented about the takeover at public meetings. The Warren Township Committee’s Feb. 15 meeting came and went without Ferreiro’s swearing in. Instead, the committee passed two resolutions extending the appointments of temporary WTPD leadership.

As of Friday, Feb. 23, Street Cop’s website was still advertising a spring 2024 conference planned in Florida. The bankruptcy filing, however, tells a much different story.

Among the 20 unpaid debts listed in the filing is $249,846 owed to the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, the site of that conference. It is unclear if the April event is still on.

According to the website New Jersey Monitor, Benigno filed for bankruptcy one day after the state Attorney General’s Office warned him it would seek monetary penalties as part of its probe into the 2021 Atlantic City conference.

The state investigations culminated a difficult year for Street Cop Training, according to its attorney Daniel Velasquez. The firm was already dealing with a $210,000 wrongful termination lawsuit and a $500,000 software failure when the comptroller’s report was released in December, Velasquez wrote in a bankruptcy court filing.

That filing claimed the events at the Atlantic City conference have been misconstrued. They became public when an attendee shared recordings with a Washington Post staff member.

“Statements made by Mr. Benigno at the Atlantic City conference – which were taken largely out of context to fit the purpose of a politically motivated ‘hit piece’ on Street Cop Training and organizations offering police training – found their way into a published article by a major new outlet,” Velasquez wrote.

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