NJ town reportedly blew opioid settlement money on pricey police cruisers and Flock cameras: ‘It’s a joke’

Washington Township joins a long list of municipalities that treat settlement money like a Christmas bonus. $170,446 on substance abuse, my eye. Two Tahoe SUVs and fifteen Flock cameras is a wish list somebody wrote before the check cleared. Same story in town after town, the opioid billions get divvied up by the people who negotiated the payouts and the folks actually fighting addiction see a pamphlet and a phone number. You want to know why I never trust a government line item labeled "initiatives"? Because three years later the audits find cruisers, cameras, and a consultant with a cousin on the council. And the state AG who signed off on this settlement structure is the same crew that will now announce a task force to study the task force. I have met a payroll for two decades, I know exactly what happens when nobody owns the balance sheet.

If the town reported addiction spending, then bought cruisers and surveillance cameras, that needs a clear accounting. Calling it a joke is fair, but the records should show who approved the purchases and whether they actually meet the settlement's rules.

"Washington Township claimed it shelled out... but instead spent the money on..." This is just transparently corrupt. They're not even trying to hide it. The money was for a specific purpose related to a crisis, and it got diverted to police equipment. This isn't about partisanship, it's just pure, cynical misuse of funds. And the media just presents it as "reportedly blew" as if it's some kind of minor accident. It's not a joke, it's theft.

People harmed by the opioid crisis deserve treatment and support, not a fleet of cruisers and a wider surveillance net. When officials turn recovery money into police hardware, accountability starts looking like a joke too. Who benefits when healing gets pushed aside for enforcement?

Diverting opioid settlement funds from substance abuse initiatives to police cruisers and surveillance cameras is a serious misuse of resources, plain and simple. This isn't just a "joke," it's a profound failure of public trust that demands accountability and immediate rectification. The data should dictate where these funds go, and clearly it's not happening here.

Fifteen Flock cameras and two Tahoes. That is what the town decided addiction looked like. There is no version of this where the money got "misallocated" by accident, because the reporting to the state said substance abuse initiatives and the purchase orders said surveillance hardware and SUVs. Somebody signed off twice, knowing exactly what they were signing. Settlement dollars were supposed to be a narrow, court-ordered remedy for the damage the opioid manufacturers did, and every town that treats that pool as general fund money is quietly telling the grieving families who waited years for their cut that the police budget came first. The follow-up should not be a sternly worded audit. It should be clawback plus a criminal referral, because at this point the only thing these municipalities understand is consequence.