The head of Jersey City's Fire Prevention Office is under internal investigation for possible misconduct, city officials confirmed at Wednesday night's City Council meeting, following allegations from a firefighter who says he watched enforcement decisions unravel around hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines.
The allegations come from Tarik Walker, a Jersey City firefighter and former fire inspector, according to reporting by Hudson County View. Walker alleged abuse of power, harassment, intimidation, retaliation, and discrepancies in the fire prevention trust fund, and said his concerns centered on decisions and actions by the fire official, including alleged signature forgery tied to an abatement document. As jcitytimes.com reported, local officials confirmed the internal probe at the same council meeting.
Walker said he reported the matter to the city's Human Resources Department, senior fire prevention leadership, and the New Jersey Fire Safety Division, and that the case includes JCPD file 26-10709. Despite those reports, he said nothing appeared to have happened over six months, and that an investigator assigned to the matter was later transferred without explanation of why or who would continue the work.
A $433,000 Fine Dispute at the Center
Much of Walker's account centers on SBR Group properties, which he said had accumulated $433,000 in fines tied to major violations and alleged electricity shutoffs. He said he and Omar Manning, the fire official named in his allegations, met with property representatives to discuss the fines, and that Manning allegedly proposed removing the properties' court fees and penalties and granting a 30-day extension without any proof that repairs had been made.
Walker said he reinspected the SBR Group properties after that meeting and found they had not fixed everything. He attended a separate meeting in April 2026 with six government representatives and the fire official specifically concerning the $433,000 in recorded penalties, and said he witnessed violations treated as corrected without supporting compliance documentation ever being presented. He also pointed to west-side buildings whose tenants were on a rent strike as a source of many of the issues he flagged, and said fine reductions to zero, court withdrawals, and case extensions raised broader concerns about how enforcement decisions were being made.
Walker Says He Was Pushed Out
Walker, who had worked alongside Manning for two years, said he ultimately resigned as a fire inspector over the controversy. He said the fire official threatened to have police escort him out of the building and followed him to the chief's office, and that after he gave two weeks' notice, he was told he could no longer use the department computer or a fire prevention vehicle.
At the council meeting, Walker asked members to independently investigate the allegations and review the Fire Prevention Office's handling of cases in 2026 and in previous years, warning that lives could be at stake if enforcement problems go unaddressed.
Council Members React, Law Department Weighs In
Ward B Councilman Joel Brooks acknowledged the allegations were serious and asked what happens when a city official comes forward as a possible whistleblower. In response, Ruby Choi said the law department has an internal process for reviewing the matter and confirmed it is an ongoing investigation, adding that complaints and allegations are routed through appropriate channels. Council member Rolando Lavarro said he was aware the matter was under review. Denise Ridley asked the law department to lay out its process for handling council requests of this kind, and Lisa Scorsolini said she would send council members a description of that process within the next few days.
A Unit Already Under Scrutiny
The allegations land on top of previously documented strain inside Jersey City's Fire Prevention Unit. An opinion piece published by nj.com found that in 2023, 702 fire-code matters were heard in Jersey City Municipal Court, yet only 30 percent of them resulted in paid penalties. As of December 2024, the same reporting found, 167 fire-code matters from 2021 and 2022 still had not been prosecuted, while another 172 matters from earlier years had not even been processed.
That reporting described the unit as operating with just two full-time inspectors and an acting fire official who, despite starting two years earlier, still had not been made a permanent hire — well short of the 20 full-time inspectors the article said the unit needs to operate at full speed. The piece also noted that Fire Prevention historically generated roughly $2 million a year in revenue for the city, and that the state was reportedly looking into taking over the unit, though that possibility was not independently confirmed by a state or city source.
The same article pointed to a three-alarm fire at 274 Monticello Ave. on Nov. 20, 2024, which displaced 30 residents from a building that had been cited with 17 fire-safety violations. The city's Municipal Prosecutor's Office said those violations were too recent to have reached Municipal Court and that the office had not been aware of them at the time. Jersey City's Fire Prevention Bureau states its mission is to minimize the number of fires in the city and reduce their severity through routine, cyclical inspections required under the New Jersey State Fire Code and city ordinances, according to the City of Jersey City. The city also says that when a municipal-court fine goes unpaid, follow-up notices set a new payment date and add at least $10 to the original fine, continuing until the fine is paid or a license is suspended.
No findings from the internal investigation into the fire prevention chief have been made public, and the city has not detailed its scope or timeline. Council members indicated they expect more information on the review process in the coming days.
