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jured in an off-duty car wreck about a year ago and had to return
early from extended leave because the paycheck stopped com-
ing and benefits were cut off. It was an arbitrary decision with no
recourse for grievance other than going to court. Another officer
suffered a spine injury on the job and tried to pension out, but
the city refused to release the necessary documents to allow the
case to evaluated.
“They’re not even honoring the MSRA,” Rogers continues.
“We ask the city if they can do something, and they say it’s the
state. We ask the state, and they say it’s the city. We keep getting
ping-ponged as to who is in charge.”
Not cool
The list of grievances runs as long as the lunch buffet line at
any casino on a Tuesday afternoon. Some of the more promi-
nent issues making members twitch and moan include:
• The officers who retired to fuel the attrition the past year
were allowed to pension-out at their salary levels before the
pay cut. Future retirees will not be given such grace.
• Members have been paying in to cover disability in case it is
needed. They no longer have a right to disability.
• There is money to pay for Class 2s, but ACPD officers must
work an extra six hours per week before they become eligible
for overtime.
• Contesting every decision must be done in court, for which
the state sends an attorney billing at some $400 an hour. It’s
like a state-controlled slush fund that could otherwise be
used to pay for more officers, equipment or air conditioning.
• The recently retired officers had unused sick time payments
coming to them, some as much as $75,000. The issue went
to court, and the officers settled for $15,000 individual pay-
outs. None of those have been made, and when Local 24
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ SEPTEMBER 2018
went back to court, the judge told them to work it out with
the state overseers.
The group of members who have joined Rogers to voice con-
cerns about the current state in Atlantic City each agree on what
might be the most egregious of all the issues in the wake of the
MSRA. After Josh Vadell took that bullet that shattered his skull
two years ago, the state takeover initially caused a delay in cov-
ering his medical bills.
Even though the situation was cleared up, it left a bad taste in
the collective mouth of Local 24 members. Their mouths are still
burning.
“A man got shot in the head, and they still tried to cut his pay
and his benefits,” vented Detective Heidi Clayton, who has been
on for 24 years. “That just shows that nobody in the state gives a
rat’s as