News

More than 700 N.J. police officers who lost jobs cannot find law enforcement work, survey finds

Published September 29, 2011

NEWARK — There was no safety net for Kaisha Perez when she lost her job with the Newark Police Department late last year.

 

A 29-year-old single mother with two young children, Perez spent the next seven months collecting unemployment after she and 162 fellow police officers from the three most recent academy classes were laid off as part of an effort to close an $83 million budget deficit.

 

Perez held out for a job in law enforcement and now considers herself among the fortunate few. In July, she and seven other laid-off Newark police officers were sworn in as Essex County Sheriff’s officers.

 

But she is the exception. Throughout New Jersey, a total of 705 police officers laid off since January have been unable to find work in law enforcement again, according to a survey conducted by the State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, the state’s largest police union. The survey includes all officers, not just those represented by the union.

 

Like the thousands of other New Jerseyans laid off in the crippling economy, the officers have struggled to pay their bills, taking on part-time work like truck driving, plumbing and private security, said PBA president Anthony Wieners.

 

Municipalities forced to lay off officers are still financially strapped, he said. “There’s nobody hiring, and if they are, it’s very sporadic.”

 

FEAR OF RIOTS

 

This month, Trenton laid off 105 of its city police officers, a third of the force. Police forces in other economically depressed large cities have suffered a similar fate. In Camden, more than half of the 93 total officers laid off earlier this year haven’t found new jobs in law enforcement, said the local police union president John Williamson.

 

Last month, Williamson sounded an alarming tone by warning of possible riots in the streets if more officers were not rehired. Williamson said he stands by those words today. “This is not fear mongering,” he said. “Based on my observations and history in the U.S. and in the world, where people feel desperate and impoverished, they tend to let out their frustrations.”

 

William Roberts, who was laid off last January with 167 other officers in Camden, is still out of work.

 

Roberts, 41, who spent five years on the force, is collecting unemployment, hoping to return to the job. “I really love that city and working for the city police department,” he said. Roberts believes he will be among the first crop rehired, but knows there is a limit to how long he can wait. “I’m going to have to decide relatively soon whether to apply to other police departments, or, even go to Home Depot and apply as a stock boy. I’m just not at that point yet.”

 

In Paterson, only a handful of their 125 officers laid off in April have found police jobs, according to state PBA figures. Atlantic City police appears to be the only bright spot; it hired back 57 of the 60 officers laid off last year.

 

“It’s indicative of how bad the economy is that more of these officers haven’t been able to find jobs,” said James Stewart Jr., vice president for Newark’s Fraternal Order of Police. “There aren’t too many cities that wouldn’t otherwise welcome these fully-trained men and women in the prime of their careers.”

 

Newark police, by far the largest municipal force in the state with 1,100 officers, applied for a grant in May to hire back 50 officers. The department should find out next month whether the application was approved, said city spokeswoman Anne Torres. On Monday, the city announced it would hire four police officers through a smaller grant.

 

In nearby Union County, meanwhile, five local police departments recently swore in 17 previously laid-off Newark police officers. The Union County Sheriff’s Office picked up four others as did the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office. New Jersey Transit Police has hired two officers and another is now a federal air marshal.

 

Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said his new hires will need little training, and have the added benefit of living in and knowing the area. He added, “the volume they handled as police officers, the contact they had with the public, I think that’s an advantage.”

 

Before this year, Fontoura said his office was under a nearly three-year countywide hiring freeze. After losing 35 officers this year to retirement, the sheriff’s office has hired about 20 new offocers to bring the force up to about 400 officers. Fontoura said he plans another round of hiring in November.

 

Another new sheriff’s officer, Tare Richardson, had cast his net as far as Atlanta in hopes of landing a police job.

 

Ed Murray/The Star-LedgerUnlike many of her colleagues who were laid off, Kaisha Perez was able to find another law enforcement job. She now works for the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.
“Every day I woke up, I kept my faith something good would happen,” he said. Despite a bitter battle in the weeks leading up to last year’s layoffs — which pitted police against the city and new officers against their veteran counterparts — Richardson, 26, said he harbors no ill will. “It was a blessing in disguise. I’d rather look at it like that,” he said.

 

Since last year’s layoffs, many now ex-Newark officers are still sending out their resumes, while taking on side work, union officials said. Several have become UPS drivers. Others are now Newark special police officers, part-time employees who provide law enforcement services to city agencies.

 

One such officer, who insisted on anonymity after being instructed not to speak with a reporter, described “a love-hate relationship with the city. I love the job, but I hate the way we were treated,” he said.

 

The officer is still hoping to get hired back, and may get that chance because all laid-off police officers receive priority consideration for any new round of hiring, even the ones who have found new employment.

 

Perez, who as a sheriff’s officer is now assigned to prisoner transportation, said she would decline the offer for her old job back if asked. “I’m in the field I want to be and I’m still making a difference,” she said.

 

Stewart, the union vice president in Newark, said laid-off officers with now stable jobs who might consider a return to the Newark police should instead follow Perez’s lead.

 

“Honestly, I hope they never look back. I hope they never come back to the city of Newark, where apparently we’re going to be in this kind of situation for the foreseeable future,” he said. “Who knows what next year’s going to bring?”

Alexi Friedman/The Star-Ledger