Morris County Corrections Local 298 needs help now
Earlier this year, Morris County Sheriff Edward Rochford negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with members of Morris
County Corrections Officers Local 298 that rewarded the members
with $600,000 in long-overdue raises and would save the county
$600,000.
For facilitating one of those rare win-win deals that benefits both
the officers and the county, Sheriff Ed Rochford received notice from
the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders that they were
taking over running the jail. In their June meeting, the Freeholders
passed a resolution to take away management of the Morris County
Correctional Facility away from Rochford.
To battle what Local 298 has termed an “unethical and illogical
decision,” Morris County Corrections Officers have initiated a petition to appeal to the Freeholders to reconsider their decision. The
petition can be accessed through the Facebook link noted on this
page.
In a few short days, nearly 1,500 people have signed the petition.
Each time a signature is added, electronic notice is sent to the
director of the Freeholders Board.
Local 298 State Delegate Rodney Furby is sending requests
throughout the NJ State PBA membership to sign the petition.
“We want to keep politics out of law enforcement, and the sheriff
has always done a great job of that,” Furby said. “We want honor our
badge and stay under the title we have now.”
According to information posted on the Morris County Sheriff’s
Department Facebook page, no public announcement of the resolution being on the agenda for the Freeholders meeting was ever
made. Sheriff Rochford was notified but was not able to attend due
to being out of town, and asked the Freeholders to reschedule the
50
NEW JERSEY COPS
■
JULY 2015
SIGN HERE!
Morris County Corrections Local 298 has started a petition
to save their jail
Go to: www.facebook.com/MorrisCountySheriffsOffice
And sign the petition to keep the jail under
the sheriff’s jurisdiction
meeting on three occasions. Because the sheriff was not present, at
least one Freeholder asked for the meeting to be rescheduled, and
when it was not, he recused himself from voting.
Morris County Corrections has experienced a sharp increase in
overtime the past few years, which occurred, Furby said, because the
county could not maintain competitive salaries. “Officers were coming to us to get trained, then departing for better-paying jobs,” he
added.
Since 2012, the jail has reportedly lost 39 percent of new officers
within their first two years. This equates to close to $800,000 in training costs of replacement officers and close to the same amount for
overtime to fill the void of the departing officers during the lapse of
time required to get a new officer approved, through the academy
and up and running.
“When the sheriff agreed to a new contract that saved the
county a lot of money, the Freeholders got mad and said they are
taking over,” Furby said. “They say it won’t affect officers, but having to negotiate with freeholders directly will not be a good thing
for us.” d