Standing up for a brother
PBA comes out in force to support
terminated Wayne member
The Wayne Township Council meeting chambers presents
a typical theater setting. Rows narrow from the back and flow
downhill slightly to what would be center stage where the council
members sit on either side of President Miller Ryan.
For any given meeting, Wayne Mayor Christopher P. Vergano
sits stage left surrounded by the township’s business administrator and its attorney. From the mayor’s seat a semicircle to the other side of the council seats stretches maybe 35 yards, and it takes
a minute or two to walk the perimeter.
On Dec. 7, the space was filled with NJ State PBA members.
Nearly 200 of them from more than 12 nearby towns and five
counties came to make a show of support for Wayne Local 136
Member Erik Ferschman, who is arguing he was wrongly terminated in November.
Th e PBA did not come to argue the termination case. But as Executive Vice-President Marc Kovar spoke before the council, he
made it clear that the PBA came out in force because it does not
– and will not – tolerate what it perceives as unfair disciplinary
treatment of one of its own.
“Many of our members get fired; we don’t come out to support
them just because an officer got fired,” Kovar told the council.
“The reason why we’re here is because of the way it was done.
This happens in a lot of places, where the chief runs the department by fear. It’s not good for the department. It’s not good for
the people.”
Because of Ferschman’s termination in November, Passaic
County Conference Chair Robert Ormezzano stepped up at the
Dec. 6 PBA state meeting to ask members to attend the Wayne
Council meeting. And within 36 hours, the union’s blue line
stretched all around the council chamber.
Several local media outlets came to cover the PBA presence,
and even 15 minutes after the 8 p.m. start, members were still
coming in the door. They couldn’t get in the council chamber,
however, due to the overflow of the PBA crowd.
The show of support nearly left Ferschman at a loss for words.
“Outstanding,” he said of seeing members fill the chamber. “I
really appreciate everybody coming out and supporting me for
this. I was hoping for a large turnout of people coming out to sup-
28
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ DECEMBER 2016
NJ State PBA Executive Vice-President Marc Kovar addresses the Wayne
Township Council.
port me in this matter.”
In addition to Kovar, several Wayne officers – including his father Peter, a retired Wayne officer – and even a Fairfield officer
stepped up to address the council and the mayor and ask about
the way Ferschman was disciplined. Much of the comments
questioned whether the Wayne PD followed proper progressive
discipline procedures, as well as the tactics used in running the
department.
Then Stuart Alterman, attorney for Wayne Local 136, made an
impassioned plea to the council and the mayor to look into some
of those tactics Wayne Police Chief James Clarke is allegedly using. He also read a memo that Local 136 members wrote.
“Officers have been undergoing an environment of nothing
but fear and intimidation, making it difficult to perform their
duties to protect and serve,” Alterman charged. “We’re here to
ask you to review our concerns. We’re placing you on notice that
there’s a problem that is putting an undue burden on every member of this department.”
And so the 45-minute show of strength ended with a makeshift
receiving line in which a multitude of PBA members stepped up
to give Ferschman their best wishes. Clearly, the meeting was a
chance for the PBA to show its strength to the town council, but
also an opportunity to show its support for one of its own. d