Tonight, Plainfield will move into a new -- and dangerous -- phase in the Green/Robinson-Briggs efforts to rid themselves of Police Chief Ed Santiago by eliminating the 139-year-old position of chief of police.
The City Council is scheduled to hold the first reading of an ordinance to eliminate the position at it business session at 8:00 PM this evening in the Council Chambers/Municipal Court at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.
Dangerous? Dangerous to your pocketbook. That's because the ordinance, which is sure of passage, will no doubt lead to a further suit against the City.
And it is not at all clear that the City will be able to prevail.
The matter will most certainly hinge on arguments of whether the proposed reorganization of the Police Division and elimination of the position of police chief have been conducted 'in good faith' and 'free of political interference'.
POLITICAL INTERFERENCE
And therein lies the City's first problem. The suspension of Chief Ed Santiago by Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs a bare month after she came into office will come into it. As will the introduction by Assemblyman Jerry Green a month later of a bill (A-2864) to make police chiefs contractual employees, eliminating their tenure.
Links to past stories in the Ledger and Courier, and the Legislature's press release on Jerry's bill are at the bottom of this post. There would appear to be ample public evidence that the attempts to remove the chief are politically motivated and driven by elected officials who are political operatives in the community.
'REASONS OF ECONOMY'
The layoff plan submitted by the City and approved by the state cited 'reasons of economy', but that raises more questions. For instance --
- If this is all about economizing, why isn't the Fire Chief being replaced with a civilian fire director?
- Why does the proposed ordinance create a new civilian position (notwithstanding Director Hellwig's saying he could hold both simultaneously) -- yet another job and salary?
- Would either of these two point constitute evidence of a lack of good faith?
- Did the police chief lose use of, and decision-making authority over, these officers?
- Were the candidates for the bodyguard detail expressly designated by the Mayor?
If the Green/Robinson-Briggs administration has legitimate issues about the management of the Police Division, a reasonable person has to ask whether the proposed medicine is worse than the illness.
Putting the leadership of the Police Division in mortal dread of falling out of favor with elected officials is a recipe for destruction of the division's morale, and opens the door to political considerations all the way down the line to the cop on the beat.
This is not a matter of the personalities involved -- either Chief Santiago or Director Hellwig.
Plainfielders, and the City Council, must look beyond the individuals to the corrupting influence the proposed ordinance will have on eliminating the system of checks and balances -- the very genius of American political theory -- in the present structure, substituting instead the tyranny of absolute power of elected officials (not to mention any that may stand behind the throne).
Marty Hellwig may be a principled administrator, but he will not be here forever. What must be kept in mind is not the temperaments and capabilities of the current players, but what will happen once they are no longer on the scene.
Can you see promotions being based on political favoritism? I can. Can you see the potential for buying promotions and assignments -- whether through direct bribes or political 'contributions'? I can. Can you see the potential for good cops, who want to fight crime, being demoralized as the Division comes to be led by opportunists and hustlers? I can -- if an independent, tenured chief, not dependent on the whims of whoever is in office at the moment, is eliminated.
Too bad for us the genie is being let out of the bottle.
NOTE: As if all this were not enough, the ordinance contemplates even MORE Captains -- directly contravening the 2004 DCA report that flat-out said Plainfield had TOO MANY Captains, and should move to reduce it to FOUR. That's what you get when it's politically-motivated. And in a time of declining resources and tax increases, yet!
- Attorney General's brief on 'Good Faith': "In re: Elimination of Linden Police Chief, 1991"
- Ledger, 3/15/2006: "Lawmaker wants way to remove top cops; Santiago apparent target"
- Courier, 3/15/2006: "Bill would monitor Jersey's top cops"
- Legislature: "A-2864: Green introduces measure to make police chiefs contractual employees"
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1 comments:
as always thanks for your astute observations and excellent reportage of what our lovely city is contending with. if it were not for you and plaintalker, the city's workings would be a mysterious vacuum that just takes money and gives little to show for it.
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