Staying cool in Atlantic City
Local 24 members continue to deal with the state running the city…
and hope it won’t be run into the ground
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Atlantic City Local 24 members are freakin’ hot. Steaming. But
not just for the reasons everybody might think.
The air conditioning in the department’s patrol complex is
broken. Not a BTU in site. And this past summer, of all summers.
Because of the Municipal Stabilization Recovery Act (MSRA) that
led to the state takeover two years ago and has put a bunch of
bumbling appointees running AC, there is no AC for the police
department.
So Local 24 members are sweating through their uniforms. Or
what’s left of them. MSRA has left no money in the budget for
new uniforms. So the ones that don’t have holes in them – or just
a few holes – are drenched like towels in a sauna.
“Most of our members got tired of wearing uniforms that look
like pajamas and have been sweated through, so they broke
down and bought their own,” Local 24 President Matt Rogers
discloses.
It’s not just the 30-percent pay cut that is making Local 24
members broil. The loss of Civil Service rights and protections
that all PBA Locals get through PERC, having hiring, promotions
and discipline in the hands of a state official who rules with an
arbitrary hand, the onslaught Class 2s being brought in and the
expensive proposition of having to fight every decision by going
to court has pushed them past the boiling point.
“There’s officers in this department who have lost their hous-
es due to financial troubles,” Local 24 Treasurer Eileen Shur re-
ports. “It’s put a strain on personal lives. Morale is at an all-time
low. We have nowhere to go.”
Local 24 members continue to fight the good fight. They have
filed suit to get back their workers rights, and they want to alert
other PBA Locals to keep this from happening to them. No law
enforcement officer in New Jersey should have to live with their
constant worry about getting burned.
“It’s the constant fear of not knowing what they are going to
do to us next,” Local 24 Alternate State Delegate Darrell Catanio
states.
Opening the vent
Rogers’ phone rings all day and all night. Members are calling
to vent. He says they hear reports on local radio about the city’s
public workers having “platinum benefits.” They are being treat-
ed like this is their fault.
They see the Class 2 officers working the boardwalk and the
area where the two latest mega casinos – the Hard Rock and the
Ocean Resort – have opened. These part-timers are funded by
the state’s tourism commission, but they are considered mem-
bers of the police department. The Class 2s can write people
up for violating ordinances, but if any real call comes in – a cir-
cumstance made more likely by the influx of people coming in
to these two new resorts that are little cities – a patrol officer or
detective is needed to respond.
In the meantime, the Atlantic City Police Department strug-
gles with its state-mandated number of 252 officers. This is down
from 390 10 years ago, and down 80 after the layoffs in 2010-11.
The reduction has been achieved through attrition.
“We have been able to block layoffs,” Rogers reports. “That’s
one of our only wins.”
The individual losses look like this: One member was in-
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