Sparks fly in bipartisan push to merge sheriff, police offices
Tuesday, August 6, 2013 Last updated: Tuesday August 6, 2013, 7:38 AM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Three of the four Republicans running for office in Bergen County government this November called Monday for consolidating the County Police into the Sheriff’s Department, re-igniting an issue that has been out of the public eye for nearly a year.
It came as no surprise that Freeholders John Mitchell and John Felice and Sheriff Michael Saudino came out in support of the merger. All three also backed the idea in October, when a plan to merge the two departments narrowly missed approval by what was then a Republican-controlled freeholder board.
But a press release on Monday touted “a Republican plan for consolidation,” which infuriated some Democrats. They said the current Democratic freeholder majority has been working with all three Republicans since January to craft a bipartisan merger plan.
Democratic freeholders criticized the Republican statement as vague and suspiciously similar to one they have been drafting.
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