The families of two victims in a double-murder-suicide that rocked New Jersey law enforcement are now suing state and local police for ignoring their multiple pleas and warnings before the murders.

Lauren Semanchik reported that after she broke up with Lt. Ricardo Santos of the New Jersey State Police, he harassed the young veterinarian, stalked her and keyed her car. Records show that Semanchik contacted at least three different police agencies, asking for help that her family says never came.

Santos is accused of the Aug. 1 killing of Semanchik and Tyler Webb, whom she was dating, and then taking his own life.

Semanchik and Webb’s lawsuit contends the system failed the victims, according to Beth Baldinger, the Semanchiks’ attorney.

“A complete and utter failure,” Baldinger said. “And failure that took place in the context of police officers being asked to be accountable for the actions of one of their own. It’s something that we call the blue wall of silence, or the code of blue, in which officers will take care of and protect one of their own. We believe that that is exactly what happened in this circumstance.”

Records show that Semanchik reached out to a New Jersey State Police trooper who knew Santos and described what was going on. But that information apparently was never reported to the internal affairs office at the State Police.

“Instead of doing what they were required to do, again, contact Santos’ supervisors and New Jersey State Police internal affairs, what did they do?” Baldinger said. “They actually picked up the phone, and they called Santos, a lieutenant, and they asked him, ‘Did you key Dr. Semanchik’s car and damage it? Have you been harassing and calling her?’

“Well, of course, he denied keying her car,” she said. “What lieutenant in the New Jersey State Police department would admit to committing a crime, although he did admit to calling her. And what did they do? They told him to back off, to stop calling her . . . Again, they failed her.”

Baldinger said that Franklin Township Police also did not take a domestic violence report, and instead directed Semanchik to make a phone call. But they never followed up, either.

On Aug. 1, Semanchik’s neighbors called 911 to report gunshots and screams. Police drove by, but it was Semanchik’s father who discovered her and Webb’s bodies the following morning. Santos was later found dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot.

Leigh Goodmark, a law professor at the University of Maryland, said she’s not surprised by how this tragedy unfolded.

“You hear people talk about the thin blue line, as … that camaraderie, that brotherhood among police officers, and because of that loyalty among police officers, they may be less likely to intervene appropriately when someone makes a complaint against one of their fellows,” Goodmark said.

New Jersey’s Major Discipline Report for police officers, issued by the attorney general, shows out of almost 540 officers fired, suspended or retired due to serious infractions last year, 34 were involved in domestic violence. In about half the cases, the officers were the perpetrators. More than a dozen were cited for failing to properly report a domestic violence incident.

Goodmark said that the numbers probably don’t reflect reality.

“[Police] are parts of the system that we have entrusted with the safety of victims of intimate partner violence,” she said. “And because they are parts of that system, it is very, very difficult to protect people whose abusers are police officers.”