PBA: Assault On Officers Shows Danger of Layoffs

Fair Lawn's Policeman's Benevolent Association is pointing to the recent assault on two officers as evidence recent layoffs have put the police department and the public in danger.

Two Newark women–Cyrinthia Marlin, 30, and Priscilla Coleman, 31–were arrested Sept. 1 after Coleman struck Sgt. Mike Messina and Officer Kenneth Cavanaugh with her car. The women were charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, attempted theft by deception, and uttering a forged instrument, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said in a press release. They entered not-guilty pleas and remain in the Bergen County Jail on $1 million bail each.

The assault came on the same day that the borough laid off four police officers:  Robert Iozzia, Christopher Sullivan, Alan Annazone and Robert Mader.

At 7:13 p.m., just after police finished their first of two demonstrations against the layoffs (the second came Sept. 7), officers rushed to Walgreen's pharmacy at 17-77 River Road because Marlin  was attempting to pass a fraudulent prescription for Oxycodone, according to the prosecutor's office.

"These criminals came from Newark, and they knew about what was going on in town here," Det. David Boone, president of Fair Lawn Police Benevolent Association Local No. 67.

"If we don't have enough officers on the road, somebody's going to get hurt, and it may not just be us, it may be the public as well," he said. "And that's not scare tactics. That's reality."

When police arrived on the scene, Marlin fled to Coleman's car in the parking lot, the prosecutor's office said. When Cavanaugh got to the car, Marlin closed the passenger door, and Coleman immediately backed up to knock him to the ground, according to the prosecutor's office.

Messina fired two rounds in the area of the car and was thrown over the hood and to the ground after Coleman accelerated directly at him, according to the prosecutor's office. Both officers were taken to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. Cavanugh was released that night and returned to work the next morning, while Messina spent the night in the hospital.

In a letter to the borough council, Messina's wife, Noreen, wrote that "These types of criminals will continue to show up in Fair Lawn and put the officers' lives in danger on a daily basis. Whether you want to recognize it or not, times have changed and bigger crimes are being committed right here in the town that you as the council say you care so much about."

In negotiations with the police union, the council–trying to close $130,000 of the borough's $1.2 million budget gap–offered police four department-wide furlough days as an alternative to the layoffs, compared with the 14 furlough Fridays employees in other departments had accepted.

"There is just not any money and it's very unfortunate that the police were not able to come to the table and be members of the community the way [other] employees of the town have come to the table," Deputy Mayor Lisa Swain said.

Boone said that because of the impact it would have on public safety, police officers can't accept furloughs like other employees.

"We're not in the same job as everybody else," Boone said. "We can't close the building on Friday."

"We are all willing to take this bite of this terrible economy, but let's do it in the right way," he said.

Officers Glen Callons said, "It's a disgrace. I'm a resident. My taxes go up, services are down, officers are removed, safety is in jeopardy."

"It's compromising the quality of service that we can provide the borough," Officer Richard Schultz said. "[The council doesn't] understand the impact it's going to have on borough residents."

Councilman Ed Trawinski said that until the council's last offer to the PBA involving four furlough days as an alternative to the layoffs, the borough hadn't done everything possible to avoid the layoffs. But once that offer was made, the PBA "had within its grasp to avoid the layoffs."

"The police department was not sharing in any of it," Trawinski said at the Sept. 7 council work session, speaking of the need for public employees to make sacrifices like furlough days during tough economic times. "None of it."