The Fight Over The Future Of A $22 Million Police Department
Six months since a study recommended sweeping changes to Bergen County Police Department, none have come.
Note: This story was published on Dec. 4, 2011
Six months after a study called for sweeping changes to the Bergen County Police Department, none of the study's central recommendations have been implemented as the fight over the future of the agency continues, a fight that has seemingly chilled the relationship of two county leaders who were allies this time last year.
Bergen County officials are currently waiting for a second report on the county police that’s supposed to be completed early next year, this one by a committee created by County Executive Kathleen Donovan.
Critics - most notably Sheriff Michael Saudino, who swept into office with Donovan last November - argue the panel is composed primarily of political appointees rather than the law enforcement experts who authored the first report.
The $623,000 Law Enforcement Consolidation Study, a 191-page report from Guidepost Solutions, recommended both seismic changes – include three ways to downsize or eliminate the county police department – as well as more modest proposals for cost-cutting, like reducing car fleets or scrapping mounted police units.
“They’ve now had the report for a greater number of days than it took to write it,’’ said Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, whose office paid for the Guidepost study. “I would hate to see it go to waste.’’
“It’s a very thorough report,’’ he said, emphasizing he hasn’t endorsed any of the specific proposals. “It addresses a lot of issues. It addresses the specific savings. It addresses the legal component.’’
Bergen County Police Chief Brian Higgins, however, sees flaws in the Guidepost study, which he argues is biased against his department and contains innaccurate information. For example, the study says the county police had 16,214 calls for service in 2010, a figure that makes the department’s workload the lowest in the county in terms of calls per officer.
Higgins maintains that the actual workload was about 57,000 calls, which would have put the department more in the middle of the rankings.
“It seems they took whatever numbers they could to make the county police look bad," Higgins said.
The county police have a strong ally in Donovan, according to her chief of staff, Jeanne Baratta.
“She likes having the county police,’’ Baratta said. “But she’s going to look at all the information and do what’s best for the taxpayers of Bergen County.’’
Baratta said that Donovan was not available to be interviewed for this story, but that the county executive found the cost of the Guidepost study "outrageous."
Bergen is one of only two New Jersey counties – Union is the other – that still have a county police department, according to the New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC).
Over the past 20 years, Essex and Hudson counties have eliminated their county police and Middlesex dropped its park police department. As a result, in most places in New Jersey, countywide law enforcement is handled by the prosecutor and the sheriff.
In Bergen, the county police department is the least expensive of the three countywide law enforcement agencies. Its total expenditures in 2010 were $21.9 million, according to the Guidepost report. In comparison, the prosecutor’s office spent $49.2 million and the sheriff’s department $34.7 million.
The county police department also has the fewest employees with 142, including 92 law enforcement officers, the study said. The prosecutor’s office has 254 employees, including 111 sworn officers, and the sheriff has 194 employees with 152 sworn officers.
Despite its size, the county police department also generates the most money of the three countywide agencies, the study said.
The Guidepost study said much of money generated by the county police, through such things as enforcement of truck safety laws, would still flow into the county coffers if county police were eliminated and sheriff’s officers were trained in that work. That’s another point that Higgins takes exception to. He argues that New Jersey law currently only allows the State Police and Bergen County Police to issue summonses to overweight trucks.
“It’s not as simple as just giving the sheriffs some training and letting them do the truck inspections,’’ Higgins said.
In some ways, the impending decisions on law enforcement consolidation shape up as a contest between the sheriff’s department and the county police.
In a letter dated November 1, Saudino accused Donovan of playing politics with the issue by creating her own advisory committee with a “predisposed outcome.’’
“Your purported committee's lack of experience and its admitted political bias is glaring,’’ Saudino said in the letter addressed to the panel’s chairman, Fletcher Creamer.
Saudino also questioned why Higgins has not taken a more prominent stand discussing the Guidepost report with county officials and the public.
“If I was the chief, I’d be out there fighting to show my department was needed,’’ Saudino said. “He chose a different path.’’
When asked for a response, Higgins said, “I’m a Christian man. I’m going to fight hard for the county police, but I’m going to do it in a gentlemanly and professional manner. I’m not going to enter the political arena. I’m not going to take a shot back at the sheriff.’’
Baratta, Donovan's chief of staff, was more pointed.
"Sheriff Saudino should be focused on how to maximize efficiencies and reduce costs within his core functions and eliminate the extraneous activities that he and his predecessors have undertaken," she said.
While most of the focus on the Guidepost report has been on the issue of whether to eliminate the county police, the study is packed with other information and analysis on the department:
- About half of county police patrol posts are not covered about half of the time during daytime shifts. For example, the Route 208 patrol post gets covered less than 10 percent of the time, while the loop at Rotes 4, 46 and 17 gets assigned less than 20 percent of the time.
- The number of traffic summonses issued by the county police has declined by 30 percent, from 64,008 in 2006 to 44,496 in 2010.
- The sheriff, county police and several municipal police departments all have special operations units commonly known as SWAT teams. If no major consolidation takes place, the sheriff’s Special Operations Group (SOG) could be eliminated and its functions shifted into the county police SWAT team.
- The county police water search and recovery unit only hunts for evidence, a task that could be handled by a similar state police unit at a savings of $90,000.
- Bergen has 20 police officers trained in assisting the medical examiner’s office at death scenes – a task commonly performed by civilians and not law enforcement personnel in other places. Eliminating that practice would cut county police overtime and allow better deployment of resources.
- The county police and sheriff both have their own K9 units. Consolidating them would save administrative costs.
- The county police and sheriff both have mounted units and the sheriff a motorcycle unit that “are largely ceremonial and do not contribute to public safety.’’
- In 2010, 64 percent of the motor vehicle crashes handled by the department happened in just three towns – Hackensack, Paramus and Teaneck, according to a county-funded study.
- That same year, 70 percent of its patrol service requests were in Hackensack, Paramus and Mahwah, and 70 percent of its investigations were in Hackensack and Paramus, the study said.
The imbalance stems from the department’s role in focusing on county-owned facilities and property, the study acknowledges. But if all calls currently handled by the county police were shifted to municipal law enforcement officers, the extra work would have “minimal” impact on the local agencies, the study concludes.
When asked about the study’s statistics that show the county police do most of their work in a handful of towns, Higgins said there were some simple explanations for that.
“Obviously, we can’t be in 70 different places at once,’’ he said. “But we don’t have to be. All the different municipal police departments have different needs for the county police. It depends on what the towns need from us.’’
Higgins also said some of the imbalance stems from where county police are located. For example, he said, if someone walked into the county police office in at the county government complex in Hackensack to report an incident, that reported would get listed as a Hackensack case.
Higgins conceded the accuracy of some of the study’s findings, such as the fact that the county police department’s inability to cover all its patrol posts.
“That’s because we’re evolving,’’ Higgins said, adding that he was in the process of restructuring the patrol assignments.
But Higgins took exception with the study’s focus on things like the bomb squad and medical examiner’s work as examples of waste.
“We don’t have a full-time bomb squad, we don’t have these guys sitting in a room waiting to get called,’’ the chief said. “All of our officers are trained to do several things. That’s the basis of the county police.’’ Officers assigned to the bomb squad or medical examiner’s duty primarily serve on patrols and only do the specialized work when it’s called for.
Every year, under state law, the main law enforcement agencies in the county meet as a review board that identifies the core and specialized functions of each agency. Molinelli said that the 2012 review, which will probably be done in January, may address some of the Guidepost suggestions for merging or eliminating specialized services within the county law enforcement structure.
“I will have a lot to say at the meeting this year,’’ Saudino said.
But Higgins questioned the legitimacy of the law enforcement review board’s report, saying the current document delineating duties isn’t being followed. For example, he said, the report does not assign patrol work to the sheriff’s department, but sheriff’s officers do conduct patrols according to the Guidepost study.
Meanwhile, the Bergen County Freeholders also have been researching the issue. The prosecutor and sheriff already have submitted reports to the public safety committee, said its chairman, Freeholder Robert Hermansen. But the panel is still waiting to hear from Higgins.
“He said I would have it very soon,’’ said Hermansen. “What I consider to be very soon and what somebody else considers to be very soon may be two different things.’’
“He’s right, I didn’t expect it to take so long,’’ Higgins said of delays in responding to the freeholders. “I’ll fall on my sword on that one.’’
Under the main consolidation scenarios, the sheriff’s department has lots to gain. The office stands to grow in terms of size, scope of duties and prestige if the county police were eliminated or streamlined. Guidepost offered three basic ways to do that.
The first possibility would be reducing the size of the county police department by cutting 23 officers and two civilians, which the study said would save $2.9 million per year. This could be done within 60 days, the study said.
The second option outlined by Guidepost would be an initial reduction in the size of the county police department, followed by a transfer of its remaining functions to the sheriff’s office, which would save $54 million per year. That could be done within 150 days, the study said.
The third scenario would be the elimination of the county police and transfer of its key functions to the sheriff’s department, which the study said would save $17 million. That would take a year, according to Guidepost.
“What we need now is for the freeholders to make a decision, once and for all, what they’re going to do with this,’’ said Molinelli.
But Hermansen said he was not prepared to cut employees as part of any changes in Bergen County’s law enforcement structure.
“I don’t think we should be laying off workers if we don’t have to,’’ he said. The freeholder chairman also said he was not looking to make dramatic changes.
“I don’t believe that consolidation is the right word,’’ said Hermansen. “I think the right word is share.’’
Avi Bloom
8:07 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
This guy Hermansen is not a Republican. He is a Democrat to appoints democrats and supports Bob Menendez. Delighted to see that Mr Yudin is opening up a convention so that Bergen County Republicans in Ft Lee will have the chance to send him a message
delgado
10:15 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Avi right,,, but the Republicans swore for smaller govt. NOW they must close the BCPD....... they pledged to make government smaller..... close the BCPD....
Tommy P
9:23 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
End it all, not just the county police but the whole county government structure, it's a massive duplicative waste full of patronage.
DKS
10:02 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Are you asking if we need the County police in addition to the ~70 municipal police forces in the county, each with its own Chief, headquarters, separate infrastructure, and officers making $100-grand each? Well it's New Jersey so the answer is yes, we do need layers upon layers of redundant government agencies. How else could we retain our status as the highest taxed state in the nation?
Terry D
10:33 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
The county police fund themselves by harrassing and ticketing business owners who drive on bergen county highways. Although there can always be some legitimate arguement and need for safer commercial vehicles...the vast number of those ticketed are for ridiculous reasons. Minute cracks in lettering on trucks. Any wear whatsoever on any tire. Untarped vehicles even if they are empty. The list goes on and on. If you don't believe me..just ask any business owner or driver in the area. I believe in the need for safe vehicles. But a line has been crossed from safetey enforecment to public harassment for monetary collection. County police pull over commercial vehicles with the intent to find something...anything..to issue a ticket for. Thats illegal. It's also piracy. It gives new meaning to the word highway robbery. Disband the county police? Absolutely. If they came knocking on your door randomly to issue you tickets regarding the appearance of your front yard or personal vehicle...you'd quickly agree with me. Enough is enough.
Bernard Lyons
6:06 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
I drive every day over Bergen County roads and the condition of a lot of the commercial vehicles traveling these same roads is abominable. I don't think the "County Mounties" are doing enough ticket writing to the lunatic Commercial drivers in the County. The Driving public "Maybe" can be escused for their atrocious driving behavior but Commercial drivers are SUPPOSED TO BE PROFESSIONAL and NOT driving as reckless as they do. GO County Mounties and write tthem all up for the littlest infraction. Maybe their bosses will tire of paying fines and fire the bad drivers.
Someone who Knows
5:38 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
As a management official within a trucking company, I can shed some light on this point. Trucks are supposed to be clean, and operational at all times, per federal regulations. Motor carriers are issued an authority by the FMCSA and any business owner requesting such authority is completely aware of these regulations. With that said County police should not be tasked with this issue, but rather a statewide initiative, as just about every other US state does. We should open a Weight/Inspection on Both ends of the Turnpike. The amount of violations would be immense from equipment violations, to over weight tickets, and that would increase states revenue. The county police do not do a good enough job to monitor the current truck conditions, and should not have that authority if any. The USDOT officials provide the training to officers as well.
Harry
3:57 am on Sunday, May 13, 2012
You have it right Terry D They are self supporting this way. And with NJ's Motor Vehicle Division cutbacks,They barely inspect a car at the inspection stations,the County Police now have the power to do roadside inspections.more money for them and a huge hassle to us drivers.
fred stedtler
10:39 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
As my Father in Law used to say, "Many small holes will sink a big ship". The County Police should be eliminated as duplication of forces. There is no need to have local,county,state and sheriff's office police. In this day and age of runaway deficits and shrinking budgets these hard realities must be faced. This attitude should also exist on a national level as well. If this country doesn't rein in it's excessive spending habits- we are all in trouble.
Jesus P Osorio
3:00 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
I totally second your opinion!! Further more, they are quite a few town, where because luck of serious crime... and with citizen facing such economic down turn that is hurting us seriously, its offensive to see those who make a living from local tax payer continue acting like nothing happen so they can continue with there excessive and in some instances ridiculous uncaring mentality !! If we are to get out of this mess left by those who look for trouble outside of our borders even when there were none... we must think to elect individuals that think FIRST to solve the many problems affecting our nation !
Josh Hosseinof
10:58 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Thanks - I've actually often wondered about commercial vehicles that I've seen pulled over on Route 4 that could not possibly have been speeding due to their size.
Bernard Lyons
6:12 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Are you kidding? How about the tractor trailers and large 10 ton trucks barreling up & down Rt. 17 doing 65- 75 MPH??? And of course the idiotic car drivers that think a 40,000 pond rig can stop on a dime when some MORON cuts in front of it and then has to jam on his brakes because they were traveling to fast to get in front of the truck. A little jail time should be applied here for just plain stupidity.
PoliceAreCool
11:32 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sounds like Terry D has some crappy trucks and has collected his share of tickets!
Someone who Knows
5:38 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
I agree
Pete Malvasi
2:51 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
70 towns and 69 muni police departments plus a mandatory Sheriff (constituion of state requires it) and a 22 million dollar county PD. This is a no brainer. Elim the county PD BUT ALSO trim the huge fat from the Sheriffs department. 59 million in savings! And where is Dnovan? On Tweeter and Facebook making appearances. Eliminate the county exec off too. We didn't have one for many years. That's the prime political plum here and in Donivans case all a virtual no show in doing the job rather than campaigning for the next term. Enough is enough.
Bernard Lyons
6:14 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
The Sherrif's Dept should be responsible for the Courts and Jails ONLY. Who the hell wants a political Hack running our Police Depts?
mitzi perillo
5:17 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Ignorance is bliss, crime is spiraling out of control and citizens are being victimized and they want to cut more cops? This has all the earmarks of a political coo to further personal egos and political agendas. More smoke and mirrors from those who seek to gain full political control with no checks or balances to challenge them. Look what Speziale did to Passaic county when he was allowed to run amok. Elimination of the Hudson County Police only resulted in negatives like overburdened local police,lesser quality of life,and longer response times etc,ask Maurice Fitzgibbons,former Hudson county freeholder what a mistake it was at the time in retrospect.No ones tax bill will go down by eliminating county police just ask or look at Hudson County.Learn from the mistakes of others.
GNOBIE01
9:09 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
BERGEN COUNTY IS ONLY ONE OF THREE OR FOUR COUNTIES IN NJ THAT STILL HAVE A COUNTY POLICE FORCE...PERHAPS IT IS NOT THE ONES THAT WANT TO ELIMINATE OR REDUCE BERGEN COUNTY PD THAT NEED A LESSON
GNOBIE01
9:26 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
OOOPS...MAKE THAT ONE OF ONLY TWO COUNTIES
Avi Bloom
6:09 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Mitzi. Thats why America has a 2nd amendment. Give the people the same CCW rights as the rest of the 40 states as we cant afford the $ 100 k cops period
mitzi perillo
6:56 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Let me just reiterate the bottom line here. Eliminating the police will NOT cause your tax bill to go down in any way,shape,or form ,anyone who believes that is foolish.Those monies will just be rerouted some where else.The only difference you will see is that when you dial 911 or need a cop be prepared for an even longer wait.
Ted
7:58 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Mitzi, Please give it a rest until you can get accurate information. If you live in Mahwah, then 15% of your tax bill goes to the County. Read it next time. If you cut $22 million how would it not go down? AND Please stop with the fear mongering! If you call 911 a MPD cop shows up.....Never a County cop! Call the police and ask them how it works before making such enormously uniformed statememts.
General Malaise
8:24 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Avi, the depth of your stupidity is ovetwhelming! You pay more in your taxes towards education than public safety. I fear the day people of tour caliber get a conceal carry permit
mitzi perillo
8:43 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Ted, first Hudson county saw absolutely no tax decrease when they eliminated their county police look for yourself and second if they were eliminated then the local police would have to respond to cover their former posts and patrol areas thereby diverting local officers from their usual service calls and there are many county properties in Mahwah including acres of county park land.do your homework with open eyes
mitzi perillo
10:38 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
I too am originally from Bayonne and you are very confused. Only the sheriffs dept works in the courts and transports prisoners to and from court. To add to your confusion Liberty Park in Jersey City is a state park patrolled by state rangers and never the county police.in Hudson they were responsible for all of Kennedy Blvd,all county buildings and property, as well as supplementing local police which was more often than not.as for the taxes what decrease? Five dollars off your tax bill traded for 80 cops lol. Who's the schmuck?
john doe
7:18 am on Monday, December 5, 2011
Why stop with the county police how about we combine some of the smaller borough forces with some of the larger ones. Reduce the amount of chiefs and upper level officers. Keep the beat cops the same. There is no reason why towns like maywood, rochelle park and saddle brook each need a chief making close to 200K a year combine them and split the savings.
Would be a small drop in the bucket for some tax savings but don't a lot of small drops eventually fill it.
Kevin
9:55 am on Monday, December 5, 2011
John Doe your on the right track. If you combind three smaller towns this could happen if done right. But just like most things done by politicians it will not be done right. 1 Chief, 1 Judge, 1 court, 1 records dept, 1 DPW boss, 1 building dept, 1 everything which means 1 mayor and 1 council. You want smaller goverment do it right. Combind three towns ward off the areas 1 rep from each part runs, and an election for mayor. You loose as mayor you do not get a council seat. If you only need one Chief you only need one mayor. Remember also the savings is only for the smaller towns that combind not you if your not part of it. Becareful what you wish for you just may get it.
john doe
10:07 am on Monday, December 5, 2011
actually i though about it how about we keep the county police, closed all the municipal departments and have preciencts of the county police throughout the county. reduces the number of cheifs, number of dispacters, centralizes 911, combines all the special ops teams. the cost savings would be huge. thew is no need for 70 cheifs in the county. all the officers could be absorbed by the county. but The PBA's would never let this happen.
Anonyamous
3:41 am on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Totally agree with your assessment. In Englewood for example the Police make over $100,000 and are glorified security guards, who are extremely lazy and do not even want to do a police report. I think they should also look at triming the fat off the municipal county. Too bad the PBA would interfer with a waste of tax payers money.
flatfoot
1:21 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
John YOU are wrong its not the PBA's ..its the Chief's Association and tbe slippery Politicos that back them who won't have it
Wendy Windblows
8:08 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
What is the difference between the Bergen County Police Department and the Bergen County Sheriff?
Pete Malvasi
9:40 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
The Sheriff is primarily responsible for running the county jails, court security and officers of the court in general serving warrants etc. The Sheriff himself or herself must be elected at large. In addition to those mandatory tasks they are still police officers and can do other normal police functions including investigations, swat, bomb squad etc. In Bergen they do it all. The County Police are like all other police except county wide. Here they mostly a highway patrol but also do the other things including county wide inter department communications between all towns. In addition to Sheriff and Police departments we have a county police and fire academy.
There are one or two towns in Bergen which don't have their own police. Rockleigh is one. Not sure other. BCPD also patrols county parks including Camp Gaw ski area and the county golf courses.
Tom
8:59 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
Hey keyman, someone put a burr under your saddle?
Chris Antonelli
10:11 am on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Might be Teterboro.
Gabriel Francis
11:23 am on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sorry, Pete but your explanation of what the sheriff dept does is inaccurate. Yes, they are responsible for the county jail, security at the courthouse and warrant service, although according to the state constitution they are only responsibe for the latter 2. For example, essex county has a corrections dept and the jail is not run by the sheriff. For clarification, they ARE NOT police officers, they are corrections officers and sheriff officers. They do not do SWAT or bomb squad or K9 (outside of the jail or courthouse). Look at their respective websites to see who does what. Finally, if you disbanded the county police and gave their functions to the sheriff, be prepared for the second coming of Speziale. Any residents or local cops that think getting rid of the county pd is a good idea should rethink that. Can you imagine the sheriff showing up for every incident with 30 people and taking over the scene? Talk about a nightmare!
GNOBIE01
8:24 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
sorry Gabriel..you are wrong...sheriff officers have full police powers
GNOBIE01
9:02 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Essex county is a county correctional facility not overrseen by the Sheriff it is a "privatised" jail supervised by the county freeholders if I am not mistaken...this is not the case in Bergen County..two more corrections if I may...1) BC k9 is frequently utilised by outside agencies within Bergen..[local police depts] and 2) even Bergen County Corrections officers have police powers (excluding traffic stops)
JamesTS
10:23 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Very interesting article here. In my town Teaneck I get excellent service from the Town police. They have helped me on several occasions and i see them patrolling a lot. I have never had any dealing with the County Police. I see them rarely if ever. Not to bash any members of law enforcement who i do respect, but what do County Poilce do all day? Why can't the sheriffs do that work? I know the sheriffs show up for crime scenes. I've sent the trucks in the news when big things happen. Never seen the County Police Dept. though. What do they really do??
Anonyamous
3:47 am on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I agree I grew up in Teaneck. My experienced throughout the years was that it was a excellent Police Force that serves the citizens of the town well. But in my experience Teaneck is rare, Englewood is horrible, Paramus is horrible and Oakland Police is horrible. My experience with those Police forces is that they actually abuse the citizens of town and they are highly corrupt. Teaneck has a excellent Police force but Englewood is ghetto with lazy corrupt officer that misuse there authority.
Pete Malvasi
8:17 am on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Except for patrolling county parks and facilities they do nothing more than all the muni departments do. Most of their activities are highway patrol type. Here that means riding the highways looking for speeders, drunks, unsafe issues etc. All very important however that's exactly what the muni departments do. If there is a case to retain BCPD someone should write a detailed rationale on this aspect of what they do and how it would create new burdens for towns to fill in any highway patrol gaps.
Our county executive isn't doing that however. She is making Facebook appearance and apparently her blue ribbon commission is really a set of very wealthy people with more experience in political contributions than saving money for those of us who don't live in Saddle River. This county executive is doing nothing more than the same old same old. I wonder if she has the executive ability for the role. But why should she be unique? None of her predecesors were either.
fb
4:18 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
The county police should be absorbed into the bergen county sheriffs dept. The sheriffs dept could then be reduced by attrition. Also, the Palisades parkway police should be absorbed into the state police, or sheriff's dept.
If not, then the county police should absorb some smaller towns police dept's, and make a substation in the town that they absorb, with a patrol sargeant as the top officer.
eliminate duplication, reduce by attrition, patrol by regional, eliminate waste.
Gabriel Francis
5:08 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
Sounds like fb is using common sense unlike evryone else. Camden and Somerset counties are already looking into disbanding all muni depts and forming a county police. When asked about forming a patrol unit in the sheriff dept, all involved apparently realized that was a bad idea. Nassau and suffolk counties have already done it, NJ should follow suit. Politics and law enforcement do not mix, just look at the prosecutor (serious ethics issues) and the sheriff (a clown).
GNOBIE01
9:31 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
HEY gABRIEL...YOU BIAS IS REALLY SHOWING HERE
Gabriel Francis
4:10 pm on Friday, December 9, 2011
THOUNGDUC - here's a link into the efforts in Camden and Somerset Counties:
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/30751
ESU is not SWAT in Paramus and sheriffs dept are not cops. The local police do me no good writing tickets on the highway, when they should be in my neighborhood looking for burglars. Those are facts. Here are more: Muni depts do not have bomb squads and the vast majority do not have K9 handlers. Most muni depts operate on different radio frequencies and systems which inhibits radio interoperability (a big lesson learned from 9/11). I'm sure Paramus has fine officers but the days of small, expensive local PDs will be coming to end eventually. BTW, what does your rank and file salaries look like? I'm sure $150k is not off the mark.
Anonyamous
3:54 am on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Correct Paramus, Oakland and Englewood are the worse. They harass the citzens of the town to prove they are worth $150,000. Meanwhile they are clueless on how to deal with criminal activity and reduce crime because there focus is on harassing the citizen with petty tickets to earn revenue for the town. The citizens are already paying hefty taxes to pay there salaries plus being harassed. Yet when your robbed this guys are useless and do NOTHING TO PURSUE CRIMINALS NOR DO THEY HAVE IN DETECTIVE SKILLS IN FINDING WHO STOLE YOUR PROPERTY THEY DO NOT CARE AND DO NOT EVEN WANT TO DO THE PAPERWORK FOR STOLEN PROPERTY REPORTS. BUT THEY LOVE TO WRITE TICKETS. WHY PAY $150,000 YEAR TO WRITE TICKETS ? A WASTE THEY ARE NOT PROTECTING THE CITIZENS. THEY ARE HARASSING THE CITIZENS
Gabriel Francis
1:11 pm on Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thoungduc - you have no idea what you're talking about. You're ignorant.
delgado
6:18 pm on Sunday, January 8, 2012
County police must be disbanded. Chief Higgins own mom gave Donovan a huge political contribution. Its out of control. Republicans must demand the Republican Donovan to disband it. They promised smaller government!
Fred Thayer
10:08 am on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
TO add to this - The Sheriff inthis State never were 'police' in the sense that they went after criminals, never, Some operated a jail/work house, some could not, mostly they did other duties in fact up until the 1980's they could write even a parking ticket, but the law were change for them. In Bergen County if you look at when the towns started a Police Dept - many as late as the 1950's who do you think was the full time 24hr dispatch/telephone service for the towns - County Police,since 1917, and who investigated the few crimes back before local full time police - County Police, even before a State Police was formed 1923, Over the years they have covered local towns when no locals were working or able to cover the town, I am told as an example East Rutherford, Teterboro, So Hackensack and some others as needed, So If the County Police were here first then we have local police duplicating a service in place for many years ? no- yes? before 911 dispatch centers Bergen County Police were doing it for most of the northern parts of the County - but today every local town has started thier own, who's duplicating who? Why re-invent the wheel if the current Sheriff has "extra" men transferred them to the Police - the BCPD seems to already have the structure/managemnet system in place. But what if he put the Police under the Sheriff? The $22 million to operate the Police would drop to what, say $19 million because the job they do will still need to be done right?
Kelly Van Rijn
8:15 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Your argument assumes that whatever the BCPD does is actually necessary, and not a duplication of effort. To follow your logic, why don't we double the number of teachers so we can gave a 10:1 pupil: teacher ratio? Bottom line, we can't afford it. We could, but not when the unions want these guys making $100K+ a year, plus gold plated health and retirement benefits. Dump the BCPD. Now. And while we are at it, get rid of the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police, too.
CPA
8:31 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Local town police, county police and state police...am I missing another level of protection?
GNOBIE01
9:05 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
YES..A GOOD WATCH DOG AND A PUMP ACTION SHOTGUN
Bernard Lyons
11:22 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Those differing Dept's are there because the people of this State or any other State wish to have local control over their Police to prevent Dictatorships from occurring.
Toni M.
1:27 pm on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Mike Saudino said the BC Police Dept was necessary (during his campaign). Another flip flop from Mike Saudino, not surprising.
Tommy P
5:38 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
The office Saudino holds is not necessary.
Tony Almeada
5:37 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
too many cops - get rid of BCPD
Denis Niland
12:20 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Maybe it should be on the ballot for the people to decide to merge, not eliminate the Bergen County Police but place it under control of the Bergen County Sheriffs Office as a division with current contracts and grade, which is the only Law Enforcement that is Constitutional Department along with the Prosecutor. There is only one or two County Police Departments in the State. I find it insulting to the taxpayer that only one police officer was on the committee, which sounds like all political appointments. Im surprised Judge Meehan would ethically compromise his integrity by participating. On the ballot should also be the elimination of the County Executive because we have a full time administrator to run the County for the Freeholders which does and excellent job. As time passes, people retire and the merge will have less impact and won't be an issue after a period of time and will have more positive impact for the taxpayer. Bergen County Police do an excellent job, but are blemished by politicians trying to squeeze municipalities to merge so they exist. In Paramus, at a public council meeting the Mayor acknowledged that Bergen County offered to Patrol Paramus Too. The merge must happen at the top before doing micro merge mentality. As a result people in Paramus and the rest of the County are paying for the savings while Bergen County Police patrol Teterboro. I am a registered Republican and say bad move Donovan you are playing a shell game with Public Safety.
Bernard Lyons
11:27 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
I agree about placing it on the ballot but I also Disagree about bringing it under the Sherriff's Dept. We DO NOT need a POLICE DEPT. under the control of a politician who can not be fired till his term of office ends. Give one politician control over any Police Dept. and you are inviting a Dictator into your town/County. Politicians can't help themselves./ Just look at Washington DC./
RAr
5:38 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Sheriff has state constitutionality, put the BCPD officers in Sheriff's uniforms merge all other administrative departments and save some money for the taxpayers. This is a no- brainer. Lets get something going in this county!
Kelly Van Rijn
8:10 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Absolutely the BCPD needs to be disbanded. I am quite sure the Paramus PD or Ridgewood PD can set up speed traps on Rt 17 just as effectively as the BCPD. WHile we're at it, disband the BC Department of Public Works and hire contractors. I have no idea what the BC DPW does, but it sure as hell isn't cutting weeds on entrance/exit ramps or picking up trash along the highway. Maybe we could train monkeys to do the 'work'.
Elliot Anonymous
10:10 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
If we could export political cronies, we'd all be rich.
Go Figure
7:15 am on Friday, April 20, 2012
I think we need all of our police officers especially with all of the problems which are around us. The argument that we don't want it under political control is mute, since it is already under the political control of county government. The sheriff's department has historically been headed by seasoned police officers so no worry there.
Andy Schmidt
12:39 pm on Friday, April 20, 2012
The difference is that the elected county officials HIRE a police leader and stay OUT of the police work.
Having an elected sheriff who then "appoints" under-sheriffs, etc... Sorry - that's just the perfect setup for political abuse and favoritism.
If we can't put the Sheriff's department under the County Police, then let's trim the Sheriff's department to the absolute minimum required by law (may-be just courts and corrections?), eliminate ALL appointees - and transfer the rest of the functions and staff to the County Police, where duplicity can be eliminated in the process.
delgado
8:54 pm on Friday, April 20, 2012
The simple fact is the Republicans, PLEDGED, SWORE, smaller Government and everyone voted for them and they have now FAILED. They lied and refused to make government smaller. The Dems said cut the County Police and the Republicans lied.
Tommy P
10:23 pm on Friday, April 20, 2012
We have a name for those people, RINOs and they must GO.
Mildred Bayes
12:54 am on Saturday, April 21, 2012
There is some very good arguments on all sides of this question. I'll leave it to the intelligent menfolk to decide what to do. I'll stay home and bake cookies.
GNOBIE01
12:58 am on Saturday, April 21, 2012
I'm bringing the cold milk!!!...I'm in on this one for sure!!
Tommy P
8:13 am on Saturday, April 21, 2012
As a Russian writer once wrote, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" (men implies women)
These sort of questions are always misframed. Its not if we need a county police department, but rather, if we didn't have one, would we start one?
Mildred Bayes
11:44 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012
I honestly believe that if you arguing men would sit down over a big plate of home baked cookies and a few glasses of cold milk things would be discussed amiably and a resolution agreed to in one sitting.
And if this took place in my kitchen I'd smack the butt of any man who misbehaved. Even though I know some men are into that sort of thing for excitement.
This is America. We have plenty of American writers past and present; we don't need some dead Russian writer telling us about evil vs. good men. Why after a few cookies and a couple sips of ice cold beer, oops I mean ice cold milk, most American men can solve and resolve major problems.
Harry
4:17 am on Sunday, May 13, 2012
I can't believe this. Has anyone here checked out anything? The BCPD is the only department in the country that does not cost us,the taxpayer,anything.They are self supporting.
Richard Zuendt
9:18 pm on Saturday, May 19, 2012
What do you mean they are self-supporting? They cost us $22 million per year to duplicate services that each town's police force provides. The Bergen County Keystone Kops should be shut down now!
Kelly Van Rijn
8:05 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Self supporting? And who pays for their pensions and health benefits? The overwhelmed taxpayer, that's who.
Rona
12:02 am on Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Someone has to pull over and ticket every landscaper & tradesman.
Allan E. Fineberg
6:09 am on Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Don't forget people who pick their teeth in public.
Harry
3:07 am on Monday, June 18, 2012
They do spot motor vehichle inspections and find many of these trucks with poor to almost no brakes and other things,such as the load being off so the truck may flip or become unable to be operated safely.They are making our roads safer.
Anonyamous
4:04 am on Saturday, September 8, 2012
While they disband the Bergen County Police they should also look to cut back the municpal town police department. The municpal town police are glorified security guards making $150,000 to basically write tickets. Teaneck has a excellent Police force but that is rare Englewood, Oakland and Paramus are the worse. The Police are lazy do not want to write police reports, Do absolutely nothing to protect the citizens from crime. They lack basic detective skills to solving simple theft crimes because they do not care if your robbed. I see no reason to pay officer $150,000 to write tickets to earn revenue for the town because in a nutshell that is all they are doing with the percentage of there day. We really need to reevalute this expenditure on the tax papers. There salaries should be cut drastically or have major layoffs and downsize the department size.