NJ Cops May18 | Page 55

Knowledge is power With the assembly of a new NJ State PBA Education Committee, members are offered classes to smarten up on the job n BY AMBER RAMUNDO The educated member is the strongest member. The moment that statement came from Barnegat Township Local 296 State Delegate Chris Ebert, Joe Dudley couldn’t get it out of his head. That simple statement embodied ev- ery reason why Dunellen Local 146 State Delegate Dudley felt so strongly about establishing the NJ State PBA Education Committee. It’s the reason that when Dudley noticed that the committee was listed as “vacant” on the NJ State PBA website, he decided to pitch to NJ State PBA President Pat Colligan the idea of launching a new course list designed specifically to strengthen members and their Locals. “That statement radiates to the en- tire reason we’re doing this program,” Dudley urges. “I would like to see us offer our members the absolute most amount of information that we can give them to make each one of their Locals that much stronger.” Soon after Dudley shared his ideas about broadening the education op- portunities available within the PBA – beyond the QuickBooks and Book- keeping courses that had already been successful – Colligan appointed Dudley to chair the program and gave him the green light to start building the com- mittee. “There was a core group that initially made up the committee, and then there were people that were asked along the way to join for very specific reasons,” Dudley notes. From the start, Dudley knew that the Education Committee should include Passaic City Local 14 State Delegate Mauro Farallo and Montclair Local 53 State Delegate Joe Savittieri, who both have valuable experience leading the PBA’s New Presidents and New Dele- gates committees. Not only did Farallo and Savittieri have instructional prac- tice, but Dudley knew that they would bring a combined knowledge that PBA members engage in a training course offered by the Education Committee. Education Committee Members: Joe Dudley, Dunellen Local 146 Christopher Ebert, Barnegat Township Local 296 Mauro Farallo, Passaic City Local 14 Steven Maslowski, Sayreville Local 98 Michael Michalski, Holmdel Local 239 Jesse Robertazzi, Toms River Local 137 Joe Savittieri, Montclair Local 53 Eric Serio, Essex County Prosecutors Local 325 Vittorio Spadea, Somerville Local 147 Kamiiko Woods, Irvington Local 29 would manifest the “Executive Board Cross Training” class held on May 15 that explained the distinct role of all Lo- cal executive board positions. “We think it’s in the best interest of the Local that all the executive board members are aware of what each other’s responsibilities are,” states Savittieri, who served 14 years as the president of CONTINUED ON PAGE 56 www.njcopsmagazine.com ■ MAY 2018 55