Chief: Cuts won’t affect police response time
Michael D’Onofrio, Staff Writer
Two Glen Ridge Police recruits were laid off Feb. 22 when the Borough Council continued the process of trying to lower its estimated $500,000 budge gap for 2010.
The two recruits were Ryan Swartz and Anthony Rivera. They had been Community Service Officers at the Glen Ridge Police Department for two years, and have been attending the police academy for the last six months, which the borough paid for, in order to finish their training and become official police officers.
Both were scheduled to graduated Feb. 25, but the ceremony had to be rescheduled due to inclement weather.
Michael Rohal, borough manager and business administrator, said while you may officially call these “layoffs,” the two recruits were asked to take a leave of absence from becoming official police officers. Swartz and Rivera are still with the borough; however, they will remain community service officers, which entails a lower salary than a police officer. The main duties of a CSO include dispatch and monitoring prisoners, among others.
“I want to stress this,” said Rohal, “the decision for these lay-offs was absolutely due to financial constraints. These are two outstanding men, which is why we sent them to the academy and are keeping them in the borough. When there are openings, they will be hired as police officers.”
Chief of Police John Magnier, placed the blame on economic reasons as well for the council’s decision not to hire the recruits. He said with such a steep shortfall in revenue this year, it seems the only place to make up for it is in salary cuts.
“It is not an easy decision to make. We at the station were obviously not in favor of the cuts, but we need to look to what the borough can afford. It may be easy for us to say we’re not in favor of it and place the blame on the council, but there are many things that the council needs to take into account, and they themselves are bound by things they can’t control. If you look at the figures, there was not much the council could do.”
Two Glen Ridge Police recruits were laid off Feb. 22 when the Borough Council continued the process of trying to lower its estimated $500,000 budge gap for 2010.
The two recruits were Ryan Swartz and Anthony Rivera. They had been Community Service Officers at the Glen Ridge Police Department for two years, and have been attending the police academy for the last six months, which the borough paid for, in order to finish their training and become official police officers.
Both were scheduled to graduated Feb. 25, but the ceremony had to be rescheduled due to inclement weather.
Michael Rohal, borough manager and business administrator, said while you may officially call these “layoffs,” the two recruits were asked to take a leave of absence from becoming official police officers. Swartz and Rivera are still with the borough; however, they will remain community service officers, which entails a lower salary than a police officer. The main duties of a CSO include dispatch and monitoring prisoners, among others.
“I want to stress this,” said Rohal, “the decision for these lay-offs was absolutely due to financial constraints. These are two outstanding men, which is why we sent them to the academy and are keeping them in the borough. When there are openings, they will be hired as police officers.”
Chief of Police John Magnier, placed the blame on economic reasons as well for the council’s decision not to hire the recruits. He said with such a steep shortfall in revenue this year, it seems the only place to make up for it is in salary cuts.
“It is not an easy decision to make. We at the station were obviously not in favor of the cuts, but we need to look to what the borough can afford. It may be easy for us to say we’re not in favor of it and place the blame on the council, but there are many things that the council needs to take into account, and they themselves are bound by things they can’t control. If you look at the figures, there was not much the council could do.”
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