Politics & Government

Police and Fire Make 2012 Requests

The fire department chief made a request that was up 5.48% over 2011. The police chief's request was up 1.58% overall.

Maplewood's police and fire chiefs made their 2012 budget requests to the Township Committee last Saturday. While Township Administrator Joseph Manning asked all department heads to keep there requests flat, both men asked for increases; however, the requests may or may not reflect final appropriations.

Fire Chief Joseph Richardella's request was up 5.48% overall — with salary and wages up $219,000 to $4.517 million in 2012 and "other expenses" up $23,950 to $162,284.

Police Chief Rober Cimino's request was up a modest 1.51% — beneath the state-mandated budget cap of 2% — with salaries and wages up $103,440 to $6.6 million in 2012 and "other expenses" down $880,000 to $298,618.

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Dispatching salary and wages' request is down $57,325 to $1.092 million, while  dispatch's "other expenses" are up $15,000 to $198,560 — for an overall reduction of 3.18%.

The police and fire pension contribution to be paid by the town is down $56,557.

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Out of a total potential budget of $38.949 million for 2012, Maplewood — using these preliminary numbers — would be spending $12.874 million on public safety matters, or about a third of its budget.

Here are some highlights from the chiefs' presentations:

Fire Department

Chief Joseph Richardella said that the Fire Department had experienced "a very, very busy year," answering the most calls in 8 or 9 years. Richardella said that this was mostly due to Tropical Storm Irene and the Halloween snowstorm.

Richardella also noted that the FD had had "some ups and downs with EMS but we met our goal with income," bringing in $261,000 in medical billing. He noted that a new ambulance was scheduled to be delivered in March 2012.

The Chief said that recovery fees from FEMA and from NJ American Water would cover much of the overtime expended during the storms.

For 2012, Richardella noted that Maplewood had been meeting with Irvington, Millburn and Union and "we've talked about stepping up mutal aid response and possibly having talks with shared serves." The Chief did have a long-term request for a full-time clerk to help with answering phones, booking events, dealing with paperwork, books, deposits and billing. The current part-time staffer is shared with another department. "It would just have more continuity if we had her there full-time," said Richardella.

Deputy Mayor Kathy Leventhal noted that the overtime request for 2012 was 50% higher than 2011 — $300,000 compared to $200,000. Richardella said that the Department exceeded its overtime by 75% last year due to storms and nine long-term illness. "We're asking for 50% more this year and anticipate that we will be below that because we don't anticipate nine long-term illnesses again."

Police Department

During his presentation, Police Chief Robert Cimino told the Township Committee, "I think we exceeded our goals for 2011 in several areas." He noted that preliminary numbers indicated that major crime in Maplewood had from 2011 to 2012.

"Our patrols and investigative branch together are responsible," said Cimino.

Cimino said that another goal was to increase the number of neighborhood watch groups. "We did hold several meetings and signups," he said, "but we want to continue to work on that. Unfortunately what tends to happen is there is initial interest. Then that can wane when the problem is abated."

Another goal was to continue to monitor youth gang activity. "We felt we did that well with the crime suppression team." Cimino said that a new and upcoming gang — the "moulah" gang — had been identified. "We have information about individuals and several have now been arrested inside and outside of Maplewood. We have a very good handle on who they are and where they congregate." Cimino pointed out that "it's not the group that is illegal — it's the activities. We are mindful of that."

For 2012, Cimino said that the PD would be expanding its police recruitment among diverse populations, and that the department had already had good response from advertising in ethnic, African-American and Hispanic newspapers throughout state, getting its "biggest reponse in terms of fully certified officers." The department has also been sending letters to local churches to provide congregations with information. "We can accelerate the process," said Cimino. "We feel we got a good result from that effort."

Other goals are to revise investigative procedures in burglary to auto investigations, increase checkpoints for motor vehicle violations, and continue efforts to monitor youth because "the quicker we can identify youth going down that road, we can identify activities and keep them out of criminal justice system or get them off the street."

Cimino said that the police department would continue its efforts to combat quality of life violations which was "important to neighborhoods" as "born out in East Hilton." This includes crackdowns on groups on corners, noise, littering — "all precursors to additional, more serious criminal acts. We hope to abate any increase in levels of dangerous actiivity."

The police chief's major capital request was for technology improvements for the radio system to be compliant with narrow banding required by the FCC— as well as a license plate recognition system project, a device that acts like a camera, reading plates and comparing them against a database from state and national crime information centers. Cimino noted that such systems were already in use in towns like South Orange and East Orange.

The chief also had a notable personnel request for a crime analyst and technology supervisor and administrator — someone who could maintain technological equipment but also produce reports. "We have acquired so much technology in last 10 years, there is a tremendous need for maintenance," said Cimino.


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