Newark Police to Get More Officers

Newark will get 25 more police officers back on the street after the city received $6 million in federal cash Tuesday, according to officials with U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

The money is part of a $20.8 million package for several other New Jersey towns. Besides Newark, 11 other municipalities, such as Irvington and Camden, are receiving the money, which is from the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services or COPS, a program to hire more police officers or prevent lay offs.

Newark needs the money after being hard hit by cuts in the department, which saw approximately 162 officers let go last year with many of them rookies, said Newark Detective Derrick Hatcher, president of the local police union. Besides the officers laid off, Hatcher said the department has seen about 40 officers retire since then and more to come within the next year.

Before the lay offs, the department had about 1,300 officers, including superiors, Hatcher said. After lay offs and retirements, there are now approximately 1,100 officers, including superiors.

"It’s much appreciated," Hatcher said. "We were hoping to get more officers. Under the circumstance, we will take what we can get now. We are headed in the right direction."

But Hatcher said he hopes when the city's budget process is done, more officers may be rehired in order to shore up the force and take into account the many retirees.

Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said he was pleased with the announcement.

"The grant couldn't come at a better time, as cities prepare for the traditional holiday season crime surge," he said in a statement.  "I'm extremely happy to get any officers back. Obviously we were hoping for the maximum possibility, which would have been 50, but it's a great thing for us to have 25 officers coming back on the job especially with our new holiday plan and the holiday season coming up."

Lautenberg, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, which funds the COPS program, said the money will make sure Newark and other large cities can combat crime effectively. "State and local budgets are stretched thin and this funding will give Newark, Camden and other New Jersey communities a helping hand to put police officers back on the job," he said. "These federal COPS grants are critical to ensuring that neighborhoods in New Jersey are secure for the people who call them home."

The COPS' cash covers the entry-level salary and benefits of a police officer for three years, according to Lautenberg.