newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Months after firing nearly 44 percent of their police force, and 60 firefighters, Camden Mayor Dana Redd issued a press release announcing that she would re-hire 50 police officers and 15 firefighters utilizing $2.5 million of payments from South Jersey Port Corporation in lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to fund the salaries of the re-hired public workers.

In a statement, Redd reaffirmed her commitment to public safety, thanking Governor Chris Christie for his support and assistance, and vowed to continue working with him, county and local officials to implement realistic and cost-effective ways to meet public safety obligations. According to CQ press data, in 2010 Camden was rated number two in the nation among cities with the highest crime rate at a ranking of 374.33, which shot up by 20 percent following the layoffs.

Mayor Redd stressed that while a regionalized public safety plan that, of course remains within fiscal constraints, officials must also address key factors that include job opportunities for City residents and fairness to existing Police Department personnel in addition to expanding and enhancing public safety services that benefit the 78,788 residents of Camden.

“But make no mistake,” Redd's statement read. “We are serious and will find long-term solutions.”

Meanwhile, in Paterson, a city where the crime index is 59% greater than the New Jersey average and 8% greater than the national average, the fears residents have of things getting worse as the layoffs of 125 Paterson Police officers loom.

With a thumbs up from Paterson's business administrator, Charles Thomas and the state Civil Service Commission, Mayor Jeffrey Jones said he has no choice but to move forward with the layoff plan that will pink slip six lieutenants, 28 sergeants and 125 officers, effective April 18, CBS News reported.

Jones said the layoffs will help the city save approximately $6 million over two years, but fearful residents ask at what cost. They feel officials need to find other ways to seal the $77 million deficit that does not expose them to certain danger.

Mayor Jones claims the union has refused to grant concessions that would help him close the $12 million budget shortfall, but Paterson PBA local President, and 25-year veteran of the Paterson police department, Steve Olimpio said that isn’t so. The PBA presidents says the union offered $4 million in savings, but also wanted a guarantee against layoffs, something the Mayor would not agree to.

Either way, Olimpio said he is tired of finger pointing and simply wants to focus on helping his officers stay on the job and keep food on their tables. During the week of March 4, Olimpio told NewJerseyNewsroom.com he called for a meeting with the mayor to renew talks in an effort to prevent the lay-offs.

“I'm waiting on his call right now,” Olimpio told NewJerseyNewsroom.com. “We're all trying to find a way to resolve this. The Mayor and I spoke earlier and will meet this afternoon. I'm bringing everything, including my kitchen sink, into this talk.”

Frightened by the spike in violent crimes in Newark and Camden, where her 22-year-old daughter lives, Paterson resident Jackie Howard said high crime numbers should scare City officials enough to go beyond in negotiations to keep police on the job.

“What's going to happen if we don't have enough officers to police the community and protect us,” Howard asked. “We need our police officers. This is not the time to lay them off in addition to raising taxes.”

No one could agree with Howard more than Olimpio and the officers in danger of losing their jobs. In an article by The Record, Olimpio said removing 10 officers from Paterson's narcotics division would leave detectives with little or no time for investigation and undercover work because of a lack of manpower.

“The lay-offs, will have a "devastating impact" on this city,” said Olimpio. “I’ve been asked if crime will actually rise if these officers are cut. Truthfully I can’t predict that, but I'll tell you this, history shows it will. Look at cities like Newark and Camden,” Olimpio told NewJerseyNewsroom.com. “Crime in Newark rose overnight. All kinds of things were happening.”

Detective Olimpio is referring to the layoff of 167 Newark police officers in December 2010 also prompted by big budget gap. Within a day of the lay-offs, the city saw six carjackings, and six shootings, the Associated Press reported.

According to city-data research there were 188 registered sex offenders living in Paterson in April 2010. That puts the ratio of residents to the number of sex offenders at 776 to 1. A 2010 CQ Press city crime ranking rated Paterson at 98 (out of 400) at 76.14.

That report and data frightened lifelong Paterson resident, Minerva Rodriguez, who said, “Let them find another way to close the budget. Do anything but lay off the people we need to protect us.”

“We're [the union] trying,” Olimpio told NJNR. “As head of the union, I have to try to resolve this problem. I have to find a way to keep my guys employed...keep food on their tables. So we‘re going to roll up our sleeves and try to reach a concession,” said Olimpio who added that Tuesday's meeting would include the PBA negotiating more monies from the COPS grant.

Since 1994, the department has used approximately $12.6 million from the federally funded grant to employ 137 officers, MSNBC reported.

If the PBA is able to negotiate more money from that grant, Olimpio said it would allow 25 officers to keep their jobs. During a recent House Budget Committee hearing, talks threatened to cut the COPS grant since FBI statistics showed the violent crime rate in the U.S. dipped by 40 percent since the grants inception.