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thelight
Citizen
Username: Thelight
Post Number: 66
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 10:34 pm: |     |
Greetings,
As you all must know by now.....It looks like the Police Department of Maplewood has lost a new Officer due to questionable circumstances. And at least TWO more Officers will be putting in their papers to leave the Department for better/more attractive Departments. At this point in time, The entire Police Department is on the verge of total collapse from within! And if the Labor Arbitrator does not come back with some type of miraculous settlement, even more Officers will be leaving the Department. I was always under the assumption that when a business, or in this case the Maplewood Police Department, wants to lure future hires, the business (Police Department), would want to entice future employees to come and join the "team". This would include offering a fair salary, vacation time, attractive medical benefits, competant leadership, etc., etc. Unfortunately the Township of Maplewood, via the Business Administrator, is looking to cut our salaries, decrease sick time, decrease vacation time, dissolve any type of seniority among the Officers, continue to "hand-pick" without a real written test for promotions within the Department, and on and on. At this point in time, the Business Administrator better act quickly, and use a little common sense for a change. I feel that in order to save the Maplewood Police Department, and guarantee a safe, secure Town for it's citizens, it is going to take a massive effort on the part of the Township to make the job of Police Officer in Maplewood,attractive. This equates to the expenditure of funds by the Township to keep competant Officers in the Town. Let's hope that the Business Administrator does not harbor such little regard for the safety and well-being of Maplewoods citizens, that she is willing to risk everything in order to save the Town some money. Remember that in the private sector, if a business saves money but suffers failure and bankruptcy from it's attempts to cut costs, that business will close and the worst case scenario will involve the loss of jobs......If the same misfortune were to strike the Maplewood Police Department, we will suffer loss of life among our citizens. I am sure that I speak for all of the Maplewood Police Officers when I state that we will continue to perform our duties to the best of our God-given abilities, no matter what. To provide safety and security to the citizens of Maplewood, even during this time of severe crisis within the Department. All we ask for is your continued support, and a fair settlement to our labor contract, when it is returned from binding Arbitration. |
ajc
Citizen
Username: Ajc
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 11:19 am: | |
"I am sure that I speak for all of the Maplewood Police Officers when I state that we will continue to perform our duties to the best of our God-given abilities, no matter what."
Well, I'm sure this information is somewhat reassuring coming from Thelight... I'm also sure I can speak for all Maplewood residents when I say that we appreciate all that our police officers have done in the past, and all that they continue to do to provide safety and security during this time of severe crisis within our police department.
Now, I hope we have those two issues out of the way, so where do we go from here?
Well, first and foremost I feel we all owe a debt of gratitude to Thelight for bringing this matter to us to be discussed in an open forum where all sides have an opportunity to provide their input. Putting our dirty laundry out in the open takes courage, although I'm sure there will be others who will disagree with this method.
Regardless of what means to the end we use, my hope is the township committee will recognize the benefit of participating in this on-line discussion in some small way. I fully realize they probably feel they already communicate every other Tuesday night before the public. However, it’s the free flow of information through this medium, where everyone who has a stake in this community, has an opportunity to fully express themselves. No matter how well intended the TC is, they could never take the time, nor could the residents find the time to allow for all the give and take input necessary. It’s only fair everyone should have a chance to comment on these crucial issues that affect our quality of life here in Maplewood.
“Let's hope that the Business Administrator does not harbor such little regard for the safety and well-being of Maplewood’s citizens, that she is willing to risk everything in order to save the town some money.“
Well, I’m not so sure all the responsibility for all the negotiations should be put on the town administrator, doesn’t she just work at the pleasure of the township committee? As I understand the issues we’re dealing with, there are more problems than just the money issue. If that’s the case, rather than this becoming a free for all, would you be willing to prioritize the issues that are before the TC. And, as long as you brought this issue to the public attention, please allow us to engage in some positive dialog and help look for some workable solutions as well.
Listen folks, it might be best if we just try to handle one problem at a time, and what better way than to start with the most important one first?
OK, now that we have a forum, lets see if we can get some POSITIVE and CONSTRUCTIVE input from anyone... |
hello
Citizen
Username: Hello
Post Number: 4
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 12:06 pm: | |
you are completely correct in that we should pay police officers much more money. it is an astounding proposition to give someone a gun and a badge and, essentially, free reign, and when you don't pay enough money you end up with some people who want the gun and the badge for the wrong reasons. "small man's disease" and even racism come into play. i don't know the particulars here, but i do know wonderful cops need to be paid well. |
Reflective
Citizen
Username: Reflective
Post Number: 70
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 7:16 pm: | |
TheLight - pls tell us the authorized number of officers, and the actual number of officers on active duty. Also, is the police auxilliary filling in?
Pls keep the info coming. |
Support your local MPD
Citizen
Username: Support_mpd
Post Number: 1
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003 - 12:04 am: | |
I have been watching the numerous threads regarding the problems within the MPD for some time now, and have decided it's now my turn to weigh in on the topic. I am no longer an MPD member, but my heart and soul will always be at 125 Dunnell Road. Additionally, I grew up in Maplewood, so my point of view is very much in tune with the way things were versus what they are today.
The Business Adminstrator does (theoretically - at least) work at the pleasure of the Township Committee. Historically though, it has been my experience that members of the TC frequently defer to the recommendations of the BA, whether it be Ms. Meade, or the former BA Dave Carew. Remember, this is the person to whom they have already delegated the authority to administer the day to day affairs of the Township. This can easily translate to instances of "well, she deals with these matters day in and day out, so she has a more hands on view of what is needed, so I'll go along with the recommendation." Altogether this is not a horrible way of doing business IMHO, but it easily leads to abuses, particularly when differences in personality tend to fog the issues at hand. It is evident that the TC for many years has not been in touch with the needs of our police officers, and this is in no small part due to relying on the BA for the bulk if not all of the story.
An example of how this becomes a problem for all concerned is when bad feelings fester to the point that officers are forced to put their careers in jeopardy and publicly decry their situation, as happend several weeks ago, just before the primary elections. It is unconscionable to me that relations between an employer and its employees should be permitted to degrade to so low a point. Make no mistake about it, any officer who has made his voice heard has good reason to fear reprisal, whether it be loss of chances at promotion, or more heavily handed penalties for disciplinary matters (I'm not talking about crimes, but administrative matters, such as being out of uniform or late for work - their willingness to speak out can easily cost them suspension and lost pay, rather than a written reprimand).
It should also be noted that officers have occasionally migrated from MPD to other departments for many years, and Maplewood has also hired officers from other authorities over the same years. Even MPD Chief Cimino, (while he was a detective if memory serves) at one time left Maplewood for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, for a position as an an Investigator. To his credit, he quickly recognized the grass was not greener on the other side of the fence, and returned to MPD. I wonder how many times he has regretted that decision!
The utter hemorrhage of officers the department has experienced over the past several years however is nothing less than shameful. Our township has put in considerable time and effort (read - money!) into grooming THE FINEST police officers in the state of New Jersey. Through mismanagement that effort and those funds now regularly go to the benefit of other jursidictions and Maplewood is forced to start all over again with a new recruit. By my estimates this has been continuing unabated for eight to 10 years.
On to the Police HQ building - more mismanagement by the Township over a period of years which has now forced a crisis. The south wing extension of the building somewhere back in the 80's was the first cange in the footprint of the building since it was built in the 1930's (The 1930's telephone switchboard had only been replaced in 1985. Up to that point, if something broke, the phone company would scavenge parts from the Newark Museum!) Almost immediately structural problems with the addition arose - or more accurately sank, as the floor could not support the weight of file cabinets, and have never been adequately addressed. The new space expanded the Court Clerk's office, added 2 administrative offices, storage capacity and room to move the Records and Youth Aid Bureaus out of the leaking and sewerage backup prone basement. The old YAB had been a converted kitchen where prisoner meals were prepared, and the Record bureau had previously been a locker room, I believe. The old YAB became the department's armory, the old Records bureau became the line-up/muster room. A small area of the new addition's basement became the locker room, and the old lineup/muster room became available to the PBA as a small gymnasium/weight room. It should be noted that both the locker room and gym were furnished and equipped through the use of PBA funds, and donations by members of our community. No adjustments were ever made to correct the flooding and sewerage problems that continued to plague these spaces. In fact it's necessary for headquarters personnel to remember to close the sewer valve in the basement during any heavy rainfall to prevent the sewers from backing up and quickly filling the basement. Closing the vavle causes further discomforts, as with the valve closed, no sinks, toilets and urinals in the building could be used.
In the mid 1990's, it was necessary to make renovations to the communications center in order to accept state-mandated 911 equipment. At that time a plan was developed to mirror the footprint of the south side addition onto the north side, adding more appropriate space for the detective bureau, a sally port (secure area for transferring prisoners to and from vehicles), meeting space, room for additional locker rooms, showers and an expanded gymnasium. It was hoped the new addition would be a bit more structurally sound than the South addition. This addition never was constructed, as the costs involved at the time were negatively received by the public. As I recall, the way the information was presented to the community in the News Record was that the entire addition was necessitated solely by the added 911 equipment. As one citizen accurately pointed out, the actual size of the 911 equipment that was being installed was about the size of a large filing cabinet. A bit of irony - the project officer for this was then Sgt. Cimino - another time he probably wished he had stayed with the Prosecutor's Office. Anyhow, the TC quickly dropped the initiative at that point. No attempt was made to clarify the need to expand the headquarters building to adequately house the department.
My time-line may be a little bit off, but I seem to remember this transpired at about the same time as the creation of the Police Director position. As many readers may recall, this was the series of events during which a police captain suddenly retired, and very shortly thereafter was installed in a position of authority over the police chief of the time who was not sufficiently cooperative with the Business Administrator and Township Committee. Note - this Chief was never charged with any kind of wrongdoing, his stance was simply contrary to the Town Fathers of the time. In short - the needs of the rank and file police officers, the men and women who put their lives on the line for each of us every day, were ignored if not outright disallowed. No substantial improvements were ever made to improve their lot.
I could go into an extensive diatribe about the harm done to the Department by the Police Director, but we all know what happened to him - He broke the rules of the Pension Board, and had to leave, with all expenses paid by the residnets of Maplewood. The money would have been much better spent on the Department, but what did we learn from the experience? Apparantly not a thing. The current Business Administrator and Township Committee now know that the can make any Chief toe the line, all they have to do is threaten to emasculate him by appointing a new Director, and that could be anybody who agrees to do exactly what they tell him to do. Pretty good reason for Chief Cimino to wish he stayed at the Prosecutor's Office, huh?
As I remember the town at the beginning of my career, you could easily think of it as Maypleberry, RFD. An auto theft was a rare occurrence, a few years later as many as five cars a day would be stolen. Few of the officers chose to wear bulletproof vests on a regular basis, now anyone who doesn't wear one is clearly a fool. Irvington was the buffer zone between suburban Maplewood, and the riotous inner city of Newark. Now we are the buffer zone for Millburn, who has had enough of the taxes and is looking to fly the coop to Morris County. How many shootings have there been in Irvington and Newark over the past few days?
The world has changed before our very eyes, and continues to do so daily. Too bad the Township Committee is still watching Andy Griffith re-runs on TV-Land. It's time to switch off the TV and respond to the needs of the community - the residents deserve a strong and committed Police Department, and you only get that by supporting them and giving them the tools they need to succeed. Just think - how long would the Yankees remain competitive if George Steinbrenner stopped supplying the bats, balls and clubhouse needed to sustain his team. Our men and women deserve to be treated as the champions they are.
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CioBella
Citizen
Username: Ciobella
Post Number: 14
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003 - 1:13 am: | |
Well I think it's a shame with all these police officers leaving. Why in the heck doesn't the town give them what they want already? This is ridiculous having all these officers leaving. It's like a epidemic one starts and they all go. Maybe we should all go and pick it with signs in front of town hall. |
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