Passaic County

Passaic County follows New Jersey law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first

A judge makes the first release decision. A person arrested on a complaint-warrant goes to the county jail, and a Superior Court judge or a municipal judge designated by the Chief Justice decides release at a centralized first appearance. People charged on a complaint-summons are released by police with no conditions.

NJ Courts, Criminal Division Overview (R. 3:4-1, 3:4-2)

Time to see a judge

A person held on a complaint-warrant must have a first appearance before a judge within 48 hours of being committed to the county jail.

N.J. Ct. R. 3:4-2(a)(1), as described in NJ Courts, Criminal Division Overview

Money bail

Since January 1, 2017, New Jersey's Criminal Justice Reform Act has made release without money the default. A prosecutor may instead ask a judge to hold a person without bail after a detention hearing.

N.J.S.A. 2A:162-15 and following, as described in NJ Courts, Criminal Division OverviewN.J. Ct. R. 3:26-2 amendments, 2024

Courts

The Criminal Division of the Superior Court handles indictable offenses, New Jersey's term for felonies, from arrest to disposition. About 510 municipal courts, run by their towns, hear disorderly persons offenses, New Jersey's term for misdemeanors, along with traffic and local ordinance cases.

NJ Courts, Criminal Division OverviewNJ Courts, A Guide to the Judicial Process

Judges and magistrates

The governor nominates Superior Court judges and the state Senate confirms them for a first term of seven years. A judge who is reappointed has tenure to age 70. Municipal court judges are lawyers with at least five years of practice, appointed by the town for three-year terms with no tenure.

NJ Courts, A Guide to the Judicial ProcessNJ Courts, Municipal Court

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Some of this is medium confidence and still being checked. Court rule and statute text came through the Judiciary's Criminal Division Overview (2018) rather than the current rule text; justia.com blocked direct reads of N.J.S.A. 2A:158-1 and 2A:162-16. The municipal public defender statute was not opened. No count of sheriff-run versus department-run jails was confirmed.

Pretrial practice

The Passaic vicinage of the state courts lists a Pretrial Services office for this county, and Advancing Pretrial lists the whole state as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2017.

Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)New Jersey Courts, Passaic vicinage court offices page (read 2026-09-30)

• Paterson Police DepartmentPaterson city160,567 served
• Clifton Police DepartmentClifton city90,406 served
• Passaic Police DepartmentCity70,744 served
• Wayne Township Police DepartmentWayne township53,903 served
• West Milford Township Police DepartmentCity25,014 served
• Hawthorne Police DepartmentHawthorne borough20,096 served
• Little Falls Township Police DepartmentLittle Falls township15,182 served
• Woodland Park Police DepartmentCity13,477 served
• Ringwood Police DepartmentRingwood borough11,766 served
• Wanaque Police DepartmentWanaque borough11,351 served
• Pompton Lakes Police DepartmentPompton Lakes borough11,159 served
• Totowa Police DepartmentTotowa borough11,061 served
• Haledon Police DepartmentHaledon borough9,062 served
• North Haledon Police DepartmentNorth Haledon borough8,831 served
• Bloomingdale Police DepartmentBloomingdale borough7,796 served
• Prospect Park Police DepartmentProspect Park borough6,382 served
• Passaic County Sheriff's OfficeCounty
• Prosecutor: Passaic CountyOther
• State Police: Passaic CountyState Police
• William Paterson UniversityUniversity or College

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.