The Metuchen Borough Council was set to vote Oct. 5 on whether to approve the hiring of an additional police officer after an appeal by the chief at a previous council meeting.
Police Chief David Irizarry gave a presentation to the mayor and council at the Sept. 21 meeting, asking that they authorize hiring an additional officer, and his discussion of the need garnered overwhelming support from the governing body and the public.
“As you can see … we’re spread thin,” Irizarry said after explaining the multitude of duties performed by police officers.
The police force currently has 26 officers, and Irizarry has authorization to hire one more. His aim is to get approval to hire a 28th officer, which would help to alleviate the problem of having fewer than five officers covering a given shift.
“Due to … contractual obligations, five officers on duty rarely occurs,” Irizarry said.
In addition, he cited the Family Medical Leave Act, on which two officers are currently off work for the births of their children, he said. Worker’s Compensation leave also has the force short-handed at times, Irizarry said.
Annual borough events at which police presence is required, along with a multitude of police training sessions required twice per year also put a strain on staffing, according to the chief. Having officers out for a variety of reasons results in others working more overtime. Irizarry said in the past, when overtime became excessive, the traffic safety officer would be pulled from his duties to make up for a missing officer.
“However, the traffic officer has become such an important function of the Police Department for many reasons,” he said, adding that the list of duties borne by the traffic officer has grown since the adoption of the Complete Streets policy, which seeks to make streets safer for all users, including pedestrians and bicyclists. “Besides all this, we have calls for service,” Irizarry said, adding that such calls will only increase with the current major developments being built in town. “[Officers] also stop at every school … throughout the day.”
In addition, he said officers serve as first responders, and are called on to fill in when a crossing guard or dispatcher is absent.
“There’s never been more expected of a local Police Department than there is right now,” Councilman Reed Leibfried said after hearing Irizarry discuss the additional burdens placed on officers with the advent of technology, the Complete Streets policy and directives from the county prosecutor.
The chief also noted officer safety, saying recent events throughout the country have made officers a target.
“After crunching the numbers with our CFO and our Business Administrator, they agreed that we can once again have the money for 28 officers and still save money,” Irizarry said.
Mayor Thomas Vahalla said he supports the move.
“I think, overall, everybody benefits,” he said after the meeting.
Council members praised the chief’s work, along with that of the officers of the department. Council President Ron Grayzel asked Irizarry if he would commit to greater pedestrian safety enforcement if the council approved a 28th officer, and Irizarry confirmed his commitment.
Pedestrian safety was the main issue raised by a number of residents, all of whom spoke in favor of the hire.
“I don’t mind my tax dollars going up whatever it needs to to pay for the extra protection,” said resident Nydia Cheatham, citing speeding motorists. Later in the meeting, Borough Administrator Jennifer Maier sought to dismiss talk about bringing convicted criminals into the community.
“It came to my attention that there was a rumor going around Metuchen that I was hiring ex-convicts and convicts to work at [the Department of Public Works (DPW)],” she said. “That information is not correct.”
Instead, Maier said, she had researched the Community Work Experience Program (CWEP).
“CWEP has many different people who are looking to get back into the workforce, some of whom are corporate executives … and some are people just out of drug rehab, and some are people who are just out of jail but … the wonderful thing about the program is that we choose and we interview and we decide who we want to work for the Borough of Metuchen,” she said.
The state would pay salaries and insurance for workers hired through the program, Maier said, adding that the move would have just been to supplement staff.
“Since then, the DPW has chosen not to go that route, and nothing’s been decided; nothing’s been signed,” she said.
Leibfried and Councilman Jay Muldoon took issue with Maier.
“Neither I nor anyone else on this dais, to my knowledge, has ever heard of CWEP until we sat down tonight,” Leibfried said.
Maier said she had first mentioned the program at the Sept. 8 council meeting.
“You called it workforce development that night … no other information was provided,” Muldoon said.
“And you used the word ‘we’ before; I’m not sure who ‘we’ is, but ‘we’ is not the mayor and council as far as I know,” Muldoon said. “… I ask that you cease work on this. … If this is contractual, I don’t believe you have the authority. What is going on here?”
Vahalla suggested the matter be discussed at the Oct. 5 meeting.
“… This topic is quite controversial from my perspective,” Leibfried said. “I’m sitting here and Jen is talking about possible criminals being reentered into our community through the DPW …”
Maier said no commitment had been made to participate in the program, which is administered through the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and that she’d provide the council with the website and a 50-page document outlining the program in advance of the Oct. 5 meeting.
Grayzel said no action would be taken without a public hearing and approval by the mayor and council.
“So I think we can all stand reassured on that,” he said.