Middlesex County Sheriff Mildred Scott announced Friday that she has hired 13 police officers who had been laid off by the Paterson and Newark police departments.
“We were fortunate to be able to replace many of our retired officers with well-qualified officers who were unemployed due to layoffs in Newark and Paterson,” Scott said. “Because these candidates came to us through the Rice bill or an intergovernmental transfer, we were able to hire much-needed manpower and save the county more than $25,000.”
The Rice bill is a statute authored by state Sen. Ronald Rice that allows police and sheriff’s departments to hire from a list of laid-off candidates within a certain timeframe through the New Jersey Civil Service Commission. An intergovernmental transfer allows individuals to transfer from one law enforcement agency to another.
The officers hired by the Sheriff’s Office were already certified by the Police Training Commission at a savings of $1,662 per applicant for a total of $21,606. Because academy training was not needed for these officers, the Sheriff’s Office also saved $4,300 in ammunition costs, Scott said. The overall savings to the county was $25,906. The officers, including six from Paterson and seven from Newark, can begin work immediately, whereas the normal training time would be 22 weeks per officer.
In total, the Sheriff’s Office received 70 résumés and interviewed 45 candidates — 25 from Newark and 20 from Paterson.
The officers and their hiring dates are: Krystle Diaz, July 25; Fausto Caamano, Aug. 1; Myesha Caraballo, Aug. 22; Sherri Dillard, Aug. 22; Gabriel Suarez, Sept. 12; Philip Nobile, Sept. 12; Richard Ramirez, Sept. 12; Albert Diaz, Sept. 19; Jeffery Gonzalez, Sept. 19; Steven Morse, Sept. 19; Omar Smith, Sept. 19; Dorian Bearfield, Nov. 28; and Sandy Perez, Nov. 28.
“The officers hired have a wide variety of experience and knowledge that will serve the Sheriff’s Office and the citizens of Middlesex County well,” Scott said.