“Confusion is the biggest feeling out here right now, because people are just trying to figure out what’s going on,” said activist Corey Teague, as Paterson residents wondered who will be running the city’s police department.

A state appellate court ruled Wednesday that New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin illegally took over Paterson’s troubled police department almost two years ago, stating the attorney general “does not have the legislative authority to supersede municipal police departments without their consent.” Control should revert back to the original police chief and City Hall in Paterson, the court ruled.

The state attorney general’s office immediately asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear an appeal, warning justices that a reversal of the takeover “risks chaos in the chain of command for the police department imminently … as to who leads the department while fragile police reforms remain underway, which will undermine the public safety for all residents.”

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a temporary stay on the appellate court’s ruling.

Commenting on X, the social media platform, Platkin wrote, “BREAKING: The NJ Supreme Court has swiftly stayed this incorrect decision. As our appeal proceeds, the PPD will continue to run as it has since March 2023: ensuring public safety while strengthening community trust. Any attempt to obstruct PPD operations is unlawful.”

Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Passaic) who backed the takeover, said it has driven down Paterson’s crime rate and restored some community trust — especially following outrage over the fatal police shooting in March 2023 of Najee Seabrooks, a resident suffering a mental health crisis in March 2023. “Community policing throughout every ward that has been very visible, and a safety measures that have been put in place — particularly in our main quarters such as Broadway — that I’ve never seen in my lifetime, and I’m a lifetime Paterson resident,” he said.

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh had hailed the appellate ruling as a “victory for democracy.”

“It doesn’t create confusion. This is what is needed. Collaboration, that’s what we needed to begin with,” Sayegh said. “And no one should usurp an elected official’s authority, especially under false pretenses.”

Sayegh, who along with his former chief of police filed the lawsuit against the March 2023 takeover, said crime rates were dropping before the takeover.

— Editor’s note: This story was updated with news of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s temporary stay on the appellate court’s ruling; it was too late for inclusion in the accompanying broadcast report.