The relationship between the ACLU-NJ and the Newark Police Department has been particularly fraught since the ACLU-NJ's creation. After the Newark riots in July 1967 resulted in 26 deaths, the ACLU-NJ intervened on the behalf of arrested individuals and taught the population of Newark to document police brutality. Later that year, the ACLU-NJ petitioned unsuccessfully for the federal courts to oversee the Newark Police Department. In September 2010, the ACLU-NJ filed a similar petition with the Department of Justice in response to recurring complaints of police brutality and abuse