12
NEW JERSEY COPS ■ FEBRUARY 2014
Home for the Super Bowl
East Rutherford Local 275 shows its big-game coverage
Rutherfo
rd
East
■ BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
All New Jersey agencies can boast that
Super Bowl XLVIII took
LOCAL 275
place in their state, and
every police department that saw an
increase in traffic can
take equal credit for
ensuring a flawless
event. But only one
Local can truly say it
hosted the biggest game of the year. In
East Rutherford, a Facebook post
summed up Local 275’s pregame feelings:
“It's finally here. Good luck and stay
safe to all our fellow public safety
responders working at or around the
Super Bowl! Everyone else, have fun, stay
safe and drink responsibly!!”
In a statewide effort to enforce sober
driving during Super Bowl week, state
authorities announced a massive campaign called “The Sobriety Blitz,” which
awarded $4,000 to East Rutherford and
20 other departments affected by the
game’s crowds.
“The grant really made things easier
for us by allowing us to have more guys
on the road,” said Local 275 Delegate
Felix Ragozzino.
Serving as the hometown Local, East
Rutherford’s chief, as well as two lieutenants, were invited to participate
alongside the Department of Transportation, NJ Transit PD, Newark PD, Jersey City PD and the NYPD in the Public
Safety Compound near the stadium on
Super Bowl weekend.
“There were the teams staying in one
county, the media day in another, the
game in a third and the ‘Super Bowl
Boulevard’ in a whole different state,”
explained East Rutherford Lieutenant
Phil Taromina, the department’s counterterrorism coordinator and one of the
officers to work at the compound. “It was
a mini fusion center.”
Inside the compound, there was a
constant flow of information both in and
out to respective agencies for any issue
that arose.
Going
Local
“We handled
traffic issues that
would affect the
busses that had
the fans on it all
the way up to
threats
received
around
kickoff,”
Taromina noted. “This
way, the local departments could continue
to worry about the
day-to-day
operations.”
As it turned out, the
day passed uneventfully. Even traffic along
the often-congested
Routes 3, 17 and 120
was well coordinated
and spillover into East
Rutherford’s residential areas was minimal.
The one headline that came prior to
the game was the discovery of a white
powder sent to local hotels around the
Meadowlands on Friday, Feb. 1.
“We got one of the first calls at Hilton
Homeland Suites that Saturday,” recalled
Lieutenant Jeff Yannacone, past president of Local 275. “The owner opened
some mail and white powder fell onto
his lap.
“Not knowing what it was, we secured
the hotel, asking guests to stay in their
rooms, as Hazmat from Bergen County
came to the scene. It turned out to just
be somebody trying to cause some commotion with the Super Bowl in the area.
But they didn’t succeed. All the organizations that came were excellent in handling the situation quickly.”
Another potential threat was that of a
potential influx of sex trafficking, which
East Rutherford PD handled with undercover sting operations that led to a few
arrests during the two weeks before the
game.
When they are not hosting the biggest
sporting event of the year, Local 275’s 38officer department remains extremely
active in its 9,000-resident town.
Between the Torch Run, events for
Wounded Warriors and volunteering as
coaches in local youth sports team,
members show their dedication to their
community.
Possibly the biggest event of the year
is the Snow Bowl for the Special
Olympics. In 2013, East Rutherford went
to the finals, only to lose to Long Beach
Island Local 175.
With the Super Bowl in the past and
the 2014 Snow Bowl coming up, East
Rutherford hopes to make as good a
showing or better this time around. And
while the Super Bowl will most likely not
return to New Jersey in the near future,
with Local 275 at the helm, East Rutherford residents will experience something
Denver quarterback Peyton Manning
had little of during the big game: great
protection. d