file photo by Boyd Loving
County prosecutor clears Ridgewood police chief in hiring flap
October 22,2014
Boyd A. Loving
12:14 AM
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward was cleared by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office of any “criminality” in connection with the hiring of two new police recruits earlier this year. This according to Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, who publicly announced the official findings during Wednesday evening’s Village Council Work Session.
During a heated Village Council meeting on January 29th, a meeting attendee who spoke during the public comment segment accused Chief Ward of manipulating civil service guidelines in order to hire the son of a current police officer, and the son of a retired police captain. Ward, who insisted that no rules were broken and that the two individuals hired met all civil service qualifications, requested that the Prosecutor’s Office fully investigate his actions.
One of the hired recruits, Keith Killion, was sworn in at a Village Council meeting earlier this month.
Thank God this book has been closed and Chief Ward has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Now if only the Council could be taken to task for their HORRIBLE behavior on January 29, which drew the ire of a long, long line of residents who publicly reprimanded them for their atrocious behavior. How about at least an apology for their nasty inquisition??????
Congratulations Chief Ward.
And congratulations to our newest police officer.
Ditto #1. Congratulations to Chief Ward and to newly hired officer Keith Killion. I am sure you will serve the Village well and like your father with loyal service, good intentions and utmost integrity.
To bad Roger isn’t around to see the outcome and to see how is friend TL gave him wrong information,
Isn’t it odd that the meeting minutes from January 29th’s fiasco of a meeting are not posted for public review on the Village’s web site?
I wonder if they will be available if the Chief files a law suit against That
“attendee who spoke ” and some of the Council people that accused him and others of wrongdoing. ” OR DID THE HARD DRIVE CRASH”
You can see on the U-stream the horrible meeting, but you are right, the minutes are not posted. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Look at the U-stream and you will see the long line of residents who got up there, and then look at the meeting from the next week February 5 and see how many people reprimanded the Council for their nasty behavior. One of the best was Ron Verdicchio who said this was like the fourth time he had to tell the Council that their behavior was atrocious or appalling.
Two words could go a long way…..”I’m sorry”…………….so come on, PA, AP, and GW, do you think you could take a deep breath and apologize for your completely misguided inquisition of Chief Ward?????
The Chief is one but there a few other people on the list. That how PA,Ap and little Miss Go Along do thing. They use their office to berate people who oppose them. When have you seen the above three ever make a public apology to anyone. When the VM announce it last night would have been a good time but they just sat there wishing that she had never brought it up.
A smart man once told me. “When someone accused you of wrong doing it because thats what they would do in you position”
#8 you are correct, one or all three of them owe apologies to Tom Riche, Bernadette Walsh, John Ward, Heather Mailander, and the friends of Roger Wiegand. Once, just once, Mayor Aronsohn issued a global apology to the entire Village for the meeting at which they skewered Tom Riche, and he promised no further shenanigans. But, before long they were back at it. Their public humiliation of these individuals seemed slanderous at best. Reminiscent of the treatment of Piggy in Lord of the Flies. Terrible, despicable, and they are our elected officials.
Yes #10 and lets not forget the two police candidates who were caught in the middle
And then there was the attempted slaughter of Mike Sedon’s candidacy, although the perp/s has not yet been identified.
Yes #12 that too.
First I am glad that our new manager had the decency to announce that Chief Ward had been cleared of any wrong doing by the prosecutor. I am once again disappointed that the council sat in silence with no apology from Mayor Aronsohn, the deputy mayor and Gwenn. # 6 you are so correct, I watched the two council meetings and I am appalled by the conduct of the mayor and deputy mayor, not to mention our concerned citizen. The concerned citizen was clearly reading off a script, which seemed to mirror the deputy mayor and mayor’s inquisition.
That left me with questions as to where our concern citizen got his information from Hmmmmm.
It is also very interesting how the council and our concerned citizen did a complete reversal after the Chief requested an investigation by the prosecutor’s office.
Funny how some of the people most vocal about tolerance and respect are the ones repeatedly trashing others.
With the public trashing of their professional reputations and what has now been shown to be false accusations against Chief Ward and Heather Mailander, I would not be surprised if there is not another lawsuit against our fair Village thanks to the actions of certain council members.
Better than a lawsuit would be a triple impeachment