ments. Imagine what $22 million could do for Local 24 members
who get injured on the job?
Colligan lays blame for the spiraling status of Atlantic City
public safety at the feet of Rick Richardella, the former Maple-
wood Police Chief who works for the NJ Department of Commu-
nity Affairs (DCA) and was designated as the Atlantic City fiscal
monitor in 2016. Richardella’s claim to fame is engineering the
Camden Metro Police Department fiasco.
“Richardella is doing damage that will take decades to undo,”
Colligan charges. “He has a long, storied history of putting law
enforcement lives in danger. He is treating Atlantic City as a city
of 30,000 residents, and he is completely ignoring the influx of
visitors to the casinos and concerts. That is to the detriment of
public safety. The clock is ticking for a tragedy to come, and I just
hope we never see that day.”
Local 24 had been battling the law firm of Christie-ite Jeff
Chiesa, the attorney the former governor appointed to the U.S.
Senate and the one who is billing that $400 per hour to the state
every time officers go to court. There had been some headway
via meetings with Jim Johnson, an attorney and former U.S.
Treasury official under President Bill Clinton, who Governor
Murphy appointed as special counsel to the city.
“He had promised to get us some answers, but the summer
ended, and we stopped hearing from him,” Rogers reveals.
Playing it cool
So looking back to a year ago, the trouble is still coming from
the state and Local 24 members can’t get no relief. But they’re
still helping kids down at the PAL, and the officers are hanging
on by the skin of their teeth.
Not only did Local 24 members pull off yet another Junior Po-
lice Academy this summer, they did an adult one, too. They are
still hosting barbecues, doing Coffee with a Cop and showing up
at town council meetings to make their presence felt. They will
not back down politically or philanthropically.
“At the height of the pay cut, every single cop put in money to
buy kids at the homeless mission Christmas presents,” Clayton
praises.
Such action has generated community support that has been
a saving grace.
“We’d be in much worse shape if we didn’t have the communi-
ty support,” Rogers adds.
But it could be a lot better. These officers are not asking for
revocation of MSRA. They’re not asking for 10-percent raises or
more vacation pay. They simply want the basic labor protections
of civil service, and so they have filed a lawsuit to appeal for
workers’ rights.
The litigation has been a step in the right direction. Otherwise,
what’s keeping Local 24 going is the pride all law enforcement of-
ficers have that makes them want to do the job in the first place.
“I was born and raised in Atlantic City. I have pride in Atlantic
City,” Catanio confides. “It does wear on you a lot, but hopefully
we can get it back.”
Shur tells of a recent encounter running into officers from a
neighboring department while waiting to pick up prisoners at a
jail. She gave some details of the Atlantic City plight. “They were
shocked and couldn’t believe it wasn’t front-page news.”
Local 24 doesn’t want this to be a sob story, however.
“It’s more of a cautionary tale at this point,” Rogers concludes.
“The rank-and-file members of the PBA appreciate what we’re
going through. But they shouldn’t get comfortable thinking it
can’t happen to them. We made that mistake. They need to be-
come politically active. They need to register to vote and get out
and vote. Learn from our mistakes.” d
www.njcopsmagazine.com
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