bring O.B. police force to 104 officers
New cops hired amid
questions about list
Seven new hires
bring O.B. police force to 104 officers
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
Seven new police officers listed on a candidates list that expired in October were officially hired and sworn in to Old Bridge’s force Monday night.
The Township Council’s 7-2 vote to amend an ordinance extending the life of the hiring list resulted in an increase from 97 to 104 police officers, as was budgeted for in the fiscal year 2004 municipal budget.
In a separate 6-3 vote, the council waived the 20-day requirement for the amendment to take effect. That move allowed the seven men to be sworn in at the meeting.
The new hires are expected to begin classes at the Union County Police Academy on Monday, as desired by Democratic Mayor Jim Phillips, who had urged the council to authorize use of the hiring list.
While a majority of the Democrat-controlled council sided with the mayor, two council members continued to ask for new police testing to be administered and the creation of a new list based on those results. One of those two officials, Ward 6 Councilwoman Lucille Panos, skeptical over the validity of the expired list, questioned police Chief Thomas Collow at length about the actual qualifications of the candidates slated to be hired.
As Panos, a Republican, questioned Collow and Phillips, who currently serves as director of police, a crowded room of onlookers, including residents and many police personnel, clapped or protested at given times.
The lengthy period of questioning also brought protests from councilmen Patrick Gillespie and Edward Testino, both Democrats who supported the amendment. Testino accused the councilwoman of staging a "filibuster."
Council President William Baker allowed Panos to continue her line of questioning, however.
"We are going to sit here until [Panos] gets all her questions answered," Baker said.
Panos and Ward 4 Councilman G. Kevin Calogera, a Democrat, cast the dissenting votes against amending the ordinance and asked that a fresh list based on updated written, oral and physical examinations and another background check be created instead.
While Calogera tried to persuade Collow to use nearly 100 special officers to supplement the force of 97 officers in an emergent situation, Panos questioned the validity of the test scores. The councilwoman recounted that last week, after signing a confidentiality agreement issued by Township Attorney Bill Ruggierio, she had viewed the township’s list of candidates for the seven openings.
Panos explained that she then compared the names and scores listed with those on a list issued by the New Jersey Police Chiefs Association. The two lists had a number of inconsistencies that she later brought to Collow’s attention, Panos said.
As a result, it was possible that the test scores on the township list were invalid, she said.
Panos further charged that the police administration prior to Collow, who began his tenure as chief Aug. 1, might have doctored the list to give certain candidates an advantage over others.
The state-issued list showed that one of the top candidates on the township’s hiring list had failed the written exam, Panos said.
"How did he get on that [township] list?" Panos asked Collow.
Collow replied that he had consulted with Ruggierio about the issues regarding the scores. He added that he later rechecked the scores and information regarding each candidate.
"I went over each candidate that was going to be hired," Collow said.
As in previous meetings, Panos contended that favoritism on the part of the previous police administration kept other candidates off the hiring list.
"Did you say maybe there were some real good people here that got thrown off the list?," Panos asked Collow.
Collow stood by the integrity of the list, adding that anyone who actually did fail any test had been eliminated.
Following the swearing in, Panos joined her colleagues in congratulating the new officers and wished them success as police officers.
The new officers, in the order of their swearing-in, are Louis Riporti, Michael Krzywdzinski, Brandon Charles Ward, Charles Miller, John Roy Santora, Patrick M. Montagna and Phillip John Belgio.
All except Ward were sworn in by Township Clerk Rose-Marie Saracino. Ward was sworn in by his mother, Deputy Township Clerk Stella Ward. Phillips held the Bible for each new officer as Collow stood at his side.
"Guys, prove me wrong," Panos said. "I’m a very righteous person. Prove me wrong and I’ll be happy."
Prior to that action, however, Ward 5 Councilman Richard Greene joined Panos and Calogera in voting against waiving the 20-day requirement for the amended ordinance to take effect. Greene, a Republican, said he supported hiring the officers, but protested not being alerted beforehand about the waiver. He said the Democratic majority should have let him know their intentions prior to the meeting.
"All it would have taken is a phone call," Greene said. "I didn’t know there was going to be a second step."
"If you want my support, you have to be open with me," he added.
On Jan. 12, Phillips, the township’s mayor since Jan. 1, cited a manpower shortage in the Police Department and asked the council to amend the ordinance to allow hiring from the expired list.
Phillips’ Republican predecessor, Mayor Barbara Cannon, hired the last group of officers. Cannon, who left office on Dec. 31, repeatedly stated that she could not hire any new officers due to budgetary restraints.