Councilmen Reintroduce Police Restructuring Ordinance

Members of the Washington Township council unanimously introduced a new version of the police table of organization ordinance Monday night, which aims to remove some of the higher ranks in the department, but keeps the position of captain. All eliminations are to be done through attrition so passage of the ordinance wouldn't involve any layoffs or demotions.

Councilmen , but put off its adoption after Mayor Janet Sobkowicz and Lt. Richard Skinner asked them to reconsider eliminating the rank of captain. The council agreed to get input from the . In early May, Police Chief Randy Ciocco, Capt. Glen Hooper and Skinner went before the governing body and . They called the rank of captain an "industry standard" and said it made more sense to preserve a known rank rather than creating a new rank of first lieutenant to take its place, which was in the original ordinance.

During the meeting Monday night, Council President Fred Goetz explained the changes in the new version of the ordinance.

"At suggestion of the police department, we took out the clause that was going to eliminate the captain's position from the table of organization," Goetz said.

He also said because there would be a captain, the ordinance would no longer have a first lieutenant and a lieutenant. Instead, the ordinance now calls for two lieutenants. The measure also changes the name of patrolman to officer, which Skinner had previously explained was more appropriate considering female officers and how other departments classify individuals in those positions.

Goetz said the rest of the ordinance is like the first version, calling for no more than two lieutenants, no more than four sergeants and between nine and 12 officers.

The ordinance calls for nine ranks for the police department: chief of police, captain, lieutenant, detective sergeant, sergeant first class, sergeant, corporal, detective officer and officer.

A public hearing on the police table of organization ordinance is scheduled to take place during the July 11 council meeting.