Officials Say Township Needs New Police Promotion Policy

Washington Township officials are investigating the creation of a new police promotion policy and expect to see a proposal at the end of September.

Currently, there is an ordinance that leaves the process up to the police director and the mayor without objective criteria.

"[The ordinance] says it's chosen by the police director in a list given to the mayor and the mayor chooses who they want," Council President Fred Goetz said during the meeting Monday night. He wants the governing body to pass an ordinance with an official police promotion procedure.

He said there are currently no requirements for police personnel to take any sort of examination or prove performance, which he said can be problematic.

"In my opinion, what that leads to is a lot of who you know as opposed to how well you do your job," Goetz said.

Police Director William Cicchetti came before the council Monday to discuss the issue. He said he began working on a new promotion policy when he was chief of the department and hopes to have it ready for the government officials to review at the end of next month.

Cicchetti said a lawsuit over a promotion in March 2010 prompted the investigation of the policy. According to a NorthJersey.com report filed at the time, Sgt. John Ryan Smith claimed he wasn't promoted because of his age. A younger sergeant was chosen for the advancement.

Cicchetti said Monday that although the judge in the case ruled that the township had followed the procedure in place, "he felt that in order to avoid future lawsuits, we should do what you're recommending."

He said while he was still chief, he created a plan with then Capt. and current Chief Randy Ciocco. Cicchetti said it went on the back burner when the plan was forwarded to the director at the time, but he said he has every intention to change the procedure.

"It has to be revised," Cicchetti said.

Cicchetti said he has looked at promotion procedures from River Vale and Mahwah, which both have Faulkner forms of government like Washington Township, as samples.

He said he will come before the governing body with his proposal at the Sept. 26 meeting.