NMPD Seeking to Hire An Additional Officer

NMPD Chief Frank Papapietro has requested the borough hire a new police officer due to an upcoming retirement.

The retirement is effective June 1 although the officer is owed time and is no longer reporting for duty, according to borough officials. Another officer, Chris Vinci,  is currently out on military leave serving in Iraq and another officer recently went out on injury leave which may last for two to three months. 

In his memo to the mayor and council, Papapietro said the department is down eight officers from the ideal recommended staffing levels.

The mayor and council discussed Papapietro's request at Monday night's work session.

"The only thing is if we don’t consider making a hire then we are going to pay for it on the other end with overtime," said Mayor Ann Subrizi. 

Papapietro indicated in his letter he would be seeking to employ someone with New Jersey Police Training Certification. The certification means the candidate has been trained at the police academy already and will need to work with a department trainer for several weeks as a probationary officer before joining the ranks.

"If they come PTC certified, you would hire them at probationary salary or step one for six months," said Subrizi. "That would have to be negotiated."

The mayor and council decided to invite Papapietro to their May 23 meeting to discuss the matter further.

"I haven’t hidden my feelings about this and we have asked other unions to take zero and there is a hiring freeze and now once again we are pushed to the wall by the PD, it’s uncomfortable," said Councilwoman Randi Duffie. "I would like to hear from the chief and would like him to prepare ‘what if we do this, what if we do that' so we have options."

Another staffing item related to the NMPD is the exploration of moving the department to a Pitman schedule, which would involve two-12 hour shifts daily. Several area municipalities, including Oradell, have moved to a Pitman schedule in recent years to cut back on overtime costs.

"The Chief and I started the conversation in January and there is a man in Trenton who will help us with it," said Subrizi. "There are voluminous amounts of information we need to gather for a Pitman schedule but the Chief and I plan to be ready to talk when the contract is open at the end of the year."

Editor's note: The last quote was originally attributed in error to Borough Administrator Christine Demiris but was actually stated by Mayor Ann Subrizi.