Palisades Park pulls police from schools over no written agreement with BOE
PALISADES PARK NJ Sept 29 2018 — A police officer assigned to borough schools was pulled from the hallways because of the associated costs and because the school district officials no longer had a written agreement in place with the borough government.
The police officer was posted after an armed security guard program was suspended by school officials following reports that found that borough officials did not follow procedures, such as conducting background checks and psychological exams for hiring the guards.
The town was in the process of completing background checks on the school security guards when the Board of Education terminated the shared service agreement, Mayor James Rotundo said.
The town didn’t originally do the background checks because they relied on the paperwork to renew a carry gun permit with the state, according to Rotundo.
“We tried to correct some of the issues that were brought up in the Record article,” Rotundo said. “We were in the process of clearing all of those officers with background checks and mental and physical checks and any requirements necessary.”
These actions followed the publication of an investigation by NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey that found that the nine former police officers who had been serving as armed school guards had been hired without submitting résumés or undergoing background checks or psychological exams.
The probe also found that some of the guards had been accused in the past of serious indiscretions, including aggravated assault, police brutality, lying to authorities and threatening public officials. In addition, records show that two of the guards were carrying handguns after their permits expired.
The council’s own policy required borough officials to perform background checks. When asked if anyone would be reprimanded for not doing the checks, Rotundo said “not at this time.”
A police officer working on overtime was placed in the schools as of Sept. 17 since the town suspended the shared service agreement. Two days later, the school board fired its attorney and terminated the school security agreement.
The extra duty police officer assignment was put in place for seven school days until the mayor and council accepted the canceled agreement on Sept. 25.
Rotundo said he was advised by the council’s police committee, chaired by Councilman Henry Ruh, that it was costing the town more money to send one guy to the schools then to have three security guards.
Ruh, had previously applied to be the school security coordinator, but was rejected by the school board in May for possible conflicts of interest. After the meeting, Ruh was seen on video threatening to pull funding from the program and shut it down.
A review of news reports, borough documents and court records showed that one of the guards, Laurence Ruh, a brother of Councilman Ruh, faced a litany of administrative charges after his testimony at the federal trial of a borough police lieutenant who was convicted of taking part in a police-led burglary ring that terrorized Palisades Park in the mid-1990s. The charges were dismissed on a legal technicality, and borough officials at the time declined to pursue them further if Laurence Ruh retired.
“I’m willing to sit down and negotiate with them and talk to them to come up with a plan with the school board, but we have no authorization to be in the schools,” Rotundo said. “I’m not spending the extra money to send a police officer on overtime.”
According to Dave Lorenzo, borough administrator, a police officer’s overtime can range from $45 to $52 an hour. The armed security guards were being paid $30 an hour.
Lorenzo didn’t have the exact numbers for overtime spent in the seven school days, but said it was much less than what it would have cost for the three guards to be in the schools.
If an officer was making $52 an hour and worked eight-hour shifts at the school, it would have cost $2,912. If the three school security guards were in place during that same time it would have cost $5,040.
Rotundo did not return phone calls on Friday for clarification about the expenses.
Rotundo said on Thursday that he’s still open to working with the school district, but paying for an officers overtime was not “feasible”.
When the council accepted the canceled contract, anything the town could do for schools became “null and void” Rotundo said.
Lorenzo sent an email to the superintendent of schools, police chief and borough attorney about putting something in writing to allow an officer on extra duty at the schools.
As of Friday, the town has not received any feedback from the schools.
Dr. Joseph Cirillo could not be reached for comment on Friday.
“As far as I know, the agreement with the town and school board , had nothing to do with the officer they sent to the school. That was never part of the shared service agreement,” Jeff Woo, the Board of Education president said. “It was just an agreement the borough decided to do while we figured out something new and it would be an extra layer of security.”
The superintendent is currently updating a security assessment on the schools to address what the needs are, Woo said.
The school board’s budget doesn’t have any money for a security agreement, but the board plans to explore options that include talking to the mayor and council to see if they can provide the resources to create their own program.
Woo said the board attorney plans to give a report at the October board meeting on his findings on the shared service agreement and what their options are.
“It’s a conversation we still need to have,” Woo said. “The former shared service agreement we weren’t very comfortable with. We didn’t feel we were fully protected and certain things were missing.”
NorthJersey.com
