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NJ Police Chief Resigns After Cocaine Arrest

Michael J. Coppola, 43, had been buying cocaine on the Internet and getting it delivered to a post office box, prosecutors say

What to Know

  • The police chief of the Palisades Interstate Parkway Department has resigned after his arrest on narcotics charges
  • Michael Coppola has been suspended for offering awards and incentives for officers who wrote the most tickets and made the most arrests
  • Authorities say he had been ordering cocaine online and having it delivered to a post office box before his arrest

The police chief of the Palisades Parkway Police Department has resigned about a week after he was arrested on a drug charge. 

Michael J. Coppola, 43, resigned on Wednesday, said Jim Hall, executive director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

Coppola had been buying cocaine on the Internet and getting it delivered to a post office box, prosecutors say. 

Detectives investigating the case, including postal investigators and Homeland Security, along with Bergen County prosecutors, put a package containing imitation cocaine in Coppola's post office box. 

He went to get the package on Aug. 9, picking up what he believed to be cocaine, and then was pulled over and arrested during a traffic stop on Route 80 East in Ridgefield Park, authorities said. 

Coppola is facing charges of attempt to possess cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Coppola had already been suspended for three months for offering awards and incentives for officers who wrote the most tickets and made the most arrests.

A report from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office says officers under his watch broke policies on high-speed chases, and they solicited donations as a charity instead of a labor group.

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