photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
February 9,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Mayor Susan Knudsen administered the oath of office individually to six (6) new Ridgewood PD patrol officers during a Village Council meeting held on Wednesday, 02/08. Oaths of office were also administered by the Mayor individually to recently promoted Police Lieutenant Brian Pullman, and the Village’s new Police Patrol Division Captain, William Amoruso. The six (6) new Patrol Officers are: Douglas Busch, Douglas Christopher, Brandon Donnelly, Jack Knudsen, Zachary Knudsen, and Kyle Scarpa.
more photos https://www.facebook.com/theridgewoodblog/
Disgusting conflict of interest. Just horrible.
Jeezuz….the Nepotism Committee is high-fiving themselves today. Wow !
Jobs for life….incredible.
Here we go with the Nepotism cry babies!!!! Go out and shovel some snow…do something productive!
Shameful
How can anyone see this and not be upset? This is not Nepotism of qualified candidates, this is flagrant manipulation of the process.
The standards, rules, and requirements were modified to allow sub-par candidates to achieve a position that would never have not been obtainable for these now permanent village police officers. Check the history and the facts on the behind the scenes manipulation that was done here, lowering education standards, disregarding history, etc
This is un-defendable and cries out for a full investigation of how this was achieved.
Certainly a very sad day for the village, a total disregard for the residents, and a hit on the integrity of the Police.
better be careful lies turning into libel
Easy peasy. Take the test, score high, get hired. Doesn’t matter if you are related to someone. (maybe helps a little bit).
10:42.
What are the requirements?
How many took the exam and how many scored higher?
Is a 2 year or 4 year degree required?
What is the bar to become a police officer in Ridgewood? I am surprised that there was not a bigger pool of candidates.
Never mind, I found the minimums. High school or GED. I thought that police departments had improved this.
Applications are available for The New Jersey Civil Service Commission Law Enforcement Examination. The Ridgewood Police Department uses the eligibility list provided by the State to hire candidates. The test is given every three years. Click on the link below for more information.
1. Applicants must be citizens of the United States as of August 31, 2016.
2. Applicants must meet the residency requirements of the appointing jurisdiction as of August 31, 2016 and may be required to maintain continuous residency in that jurisdiction up to and including the date of appointment.
3. Applicants must be high school or vocational high school graduates, or possess an approved High School Equivalency Certificate by August 31, 2016.
4. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age as of August 31, 2016. Applicants for Municipal Police Officer and its bilingual variant positions cannot be over 35 years of age (one is considered over 35 on the day of his/her 35th birthday) as of August 31, 2016, unless they meet the exceptions in “Maximum hiring age requirement for Municipal Police Officer” as indicated on the Fact Sheet. NOTE: The age 35 maximum hiring requirement applies only to Municipal Police Officer and its bilingual variants.
5. Appointees will be required to possess a driver’s license valid in New Jersey only if the operation of a vehicle, rather than employee mobility, is necessary to perform the essential duties of the position.
6. Appointees may be required to pass thorough medical and drug screening, and psychological/psychiatric examinations. Failure of any of these is cause for removal from that title area.
7. Appointees will be required to successfully complete a training program mandated by the NJ Police Training Commission. This training must be completed prior to enrollment in the Police and Fire Retirement System.
8. After you complete and submit your online application, you will receive a confirmation page which includes a link and access code to the Candidate Preparation Guide. Please print your confirmation page prior to going to the link.
An abbreviated application is used for this title. Information regarding education, experience, licenses/certifications, training or internships is not collected.
Over 18 but under 35
Live in Ridgewood is
High school or GED
Drivers license
Medical & drug screening
Complete training
Susan’s husband is a police officer. It is very common for children in professions of this nature to follow in their parents foot steps. My brother was career army. All his children considered military service. My two nephews are NYC Firemen. Their grandfather was a big wig official in The NYC Fire DEpartment. The tests for Fire and Police are rigorous and we do hire Ridgewood residents first and foremost and as far as police It is a civil service appointment and the guidelines are strictly enforced. I was so happy for her,her sons and her husband.
So if I don’t live in Ridgewood I can’t get hired there…?
How about if you hire me first then I move there…you know, get an apartment or rent a room from a relative, etc.
My neighbor is a cop in Wayne…obviously Wayne doesn’t have a residence requirement.
Something doesn’t smell right with this.
you have waited 100 years to complain about the residency requirement? or you want to hire cops looking for payoffs from Hudson county? or your a member of the FAC that is clueless about finances and police contracts, the fact is we are hiring all these young men making 1/3 of what the guys who retired last year were making because of work Gabbert did.
You two or three people who insist on bashing anything Mayor Knudsen does are disgraceful. The hiring of her sons was completely legal and it is disgusting that you are trying to sully their proud achievement.
How many people applied? Maybe there was a small pool.
Will she recuse from all discussion of the police and their contracts given this obvious conflict of interest? How can she not be self-interested in her sons?
James at 3:01, Gabbert saved us money when he unilaterally re-opened the police & fire contracts in 2010? Really? Did you do the math on the NPV of the contracts? It’s all optics on the early years. Worth over $3 million per hire including pension, health, and generous payout policy on used sick days. That’s over $6mn in today’s dollars if your two sons just got hired.
Bigger question is why are we adding six new cops when Valley is leaving? Do we really need such a big, expensive RPD?
James, again you seem to be missing the facts. Add in all of the $100,000 annual pensions and platinum family health benefits for the seven retired cops plus their unused sick leave payouts over $700,000 in total. Gabbert also pulled a fast one on the Council by raising salaries for the brass when he reopened the contracts without a labor lawyer in 2010, and then claiming he deserved to be paid more than those reporting to him. Presto, 12% retroactive wage increase. Lots of collateral damage from that decision, too. Stop promoting the lie that Gabbert saved taxpayers money on those contracts. It wouldn’t hold up in court.
If there is truly is a claim that there was manipulation of the process, and modification of standards and rules to allow subpar candidates to get civil service jobs for life, the Ridgewood taxpayers deserve a full investigation. Why do you oppose this James and others posting above?
I don’t know th mayor or her sons.
It’s a civil service job. If you meet the requirements take the test. You get hired based on civil service rules, I beleive there is preference for veterans
Also I think they can pass over someone on th list , no reason given. Can someone please chime in on this ?
Looks like blatant, shameless nepotism. Taxpayers get screwed and the Mayor hands out lifetime employment guarantees to her two sons worth multi-millions. Will we ever know if she manipulated the process behind the scenes to modify standards? Doesn’t look like this blog will investigate the facts.
Just sickening
I think the residency requirement is something that would interest the ACLU…especially if it’s used to avoid hiring minority applicants…
She should at least explain hiring protocol maybe it’s based on objective requirements (ie scores, list order, etc.) but having 1/3 of the hires coming from her family isn’t great optics.
This is just sickening, hopefully here’s an investigation in to what happened behind closed doors because something doesn’t pas the smell test here
8:11 She DID explain the hiring protocol. At the beginning of the meeting. Just to stave off idiots like you.
I think the residency requirement is something that would interest the ACLU…especially if it’s used to avoid hiring minority applicants.
Your a total moron, I mean total.
Ridgewood has 3 black cops, 2 females.
Should I go as far as to break it out from percentage to population? I’m sure your the same liberal scumbag that wants minorities but lives on mountain ave and calls the cops when a black solicitor comes to the door.
Just shut up.
951… do you mean to say we have ideological hypocrites in the midst of our “quaint village”?
9:51 – you don’t know how to use contractions. Clearly you were schooled outside of Ridgewood.
The hypocrisy here is stunning. Imagine the outcry if a Gwenn or Albert tried to get their kid hired by the Village? The internet would have crashed. But Sue just gets a free pass handing out lifetime civil service jobs worth millions to her sons. Shameless hypocrisy from her and those who see no problem with this.
its called civil service rules,
Shameful is right. The attacks on Mayor Knudsen are shameful and the attacks on the police officers are worse. According to meeting comments the hirings occured in the summer meaning sonenfeld was the Village manager.. doubt she was doing anything to help knudsne. Probably just the opposite. Better get that investigation investigation going on sonenfeld. Laughable.
Congratulations to all six police officers.
1:01 you sound like an ignorant idiot. If Gwen or Albert tried to just have one of their kids hired it would be wrong. The civil service process is in place to make sure no one can just get hired politically.if they went through the civil service process and someone tried to prevent them from being hired that would be wrong and maybe illegal.
Civil service rules?
That’s where your going with this?
Really?
Your thinking were that stupid?
Really?
So I guess the Mayor will cite “civil service rules” as reason for not recusing from any discussion of the RPD or police contracts going forward? What a joke.
Why the opposition to have a independent review of how this happened? They could start with how Ridgewood is the only local police department that somehow a college attendance was removed from requirements. What was the current Mayors role in that decision ? Should also look to see how some history on of these candidates in high school and local was not cause for them to be excluded. Seems to recall some issues a few years ago where the mayor was banned from the BOE meetings for aggressively pushing for considerations for these now police officers
Let’s just get the facts. These are important roles
Why the opposition to have a independent review of how this happened? ah there is none, what happend??? BOE ..Police …..might want to get your facts straight, go to the Village council meeting and propose the idea , so far no one has done anything thing but push old innuendo used since Killian. Facts might help .
With step wage increases these kids will be making $100,000 a year with pension and health benefits in less than 10 years… not bad for high school or GFE. Why was the college attendance rule dropped? This is Ridgewood. Why can’t we have higher standards given the millions of taxpayer funded dollars these people will make during their service time and retirement? Tax payers and residents deserve better.