South Orange to Add Two Police Officers

The South Orange Board of Trustees (BOT) voted on Monday to hire two entry-level, probationary patrol officers for the Police Department. 

The BOT made the move to make up for the retirements of several uniformed officers in recent years, and to decrease the amount the village spends on overtime costs, said Township Administrator Barry Lewis. 

“Between 2011 and the end of the 2013, the police department will have had a total of six retirements bringing the total number of sworn officers down to 46,” said Sheena Collum in a message to Patch. Collum, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said 2012 overtime costs totaled $528,000 and this year to date had exceeded $250,000. 

Lewis said for the past several years the township had 53 uniformed officers. Currently, there are 48 active officers, with two set to retire soon.  South Orange has many experienced officers who are at the top of the pay scale, said Lewis, with top-level officers making up to three times as much as an entry-level officer (plus overtime pay.) 

Lewis said he had been working with the Chief James Chelel and other top police staff to discuss how to implement scheduling efficiencies within the department.

“[The hiring] does not in any way tie our hands,” said Lewis, who described the move as an interim step. “We are still at a number that gives us the flexibility to evaluate all those scheduling options.”  He also said the move doesn’t require any mandatory promotions. 

The officers will spend three months at the academy and three more months working under a training officer before they are fully deployed, said Lewis. 

Trustee Mark Rosner said he approved of the hirings, but that the village needed to have a “serious discussion” about the recommendations in a report completed last year by the International City/County Management Association’s Center for Public Safety (ICMA). See the full report on the South Orange Village website.