'He Put Us Through Hell': Officer Lashes Out At Former Howell Chief

HOWELL, NJ — President of Howell Policeman's Benevolent Association Local 228 lashed out at former Police Chief Andrew Kudrick at the Township Council meeting Tuesday night

During the public session, Local 228 President James Alexander spoke to the council concerning comments made earlier in the meeting about Kudrick's resignation, saying he felt he “owed it to his membership, which he was elected to represent.”

“It was roughly three months ago that I stood before you guys looking for assistance becuase we were dealing with a situation at work that we did not know how to deal with anymore,” Alexander said.

In December of last year, Vice President Rich Robertiello, President James Alexander, and state delegate James Hurley attended a council meeting and informed the board that members of the union had voted 69-2 in favor of a vote of no confidence in Kudrick's leadership of the police department.

Alexander said the union members wanted to formally notify the governing body that there is a problem in the police department and to seek assistance in resolving it.

On Tuesday, Alexander addressed the council, saying that while he understands that they regard Kudrick as a friend, he is “not going to stay silent on the narrative that he was this great man who did all these great things.”

“He put us through hell for the last two years and quite frankly we are happy to see him go,” Alexander said.

Alexander went on to say that, while the township praised Kudrick for prioritizing Howell and maintaining excellent communication, that is not how it appeared from the inside.

“That is not what we saw, we did not see a good communicator and we saw somebody that always put Andy Kudrick first above all and everything else,” Alexander said.

Following his commentary, Tina Smilek, a Howell resident spoke out against Alexander's comments on the matter. “Our police department is our crown jewel of this town,” said Smilek.

Smilek stated that she is tired of hearing police officers disparage one another and that “everyone has problems with their employers.”

“I can't tell you in the last five years when I looked at the budgets and Chief Kudrick stood here and half of those new PBA members, Kudrick fought for them to be on there,” Smilek said.

Smilek went on to say that, while not everything in the department was perfect, the issues needed to be addressed internally rather than being brought up publicly as frequently.

“Can we please stop trashing each other? This is our town, we have the best police force there is we don't need to keep bringing that police force down,” Smilek said.