Two members step down from advisory panel on Bergen County police merger

Two members step down from advisory panel on Bergen County police merger

APRIL 29, 2014, 8:40 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014, 8:40 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

A panel picked to advise the Bergen County freeholders on a contested police merger has lost two local law enforcement officials to a standoff between the board and the County Police Chief’s Association.

Cresskill Police Chief Edward Wrixon and Paramus Deputy Chief Robert Guidetti had been tapped to be part of the eight-member group that was asked to advise the freeholders on how to implement a contested merger that would move the 89-member County Police as an intact division into the Sheriff’s Office.

But both men have indicated to the freeholders that they will not be taking part in the panel after Mahwah Chief James Batelli, the current president of the chief’s association, questioned why his group was not consulted on the makeup of the panel.

The departure of Wrixon and Guidetti leaves the panel without any active-duty municipal police chiefs, although it does have a retired chief plus law enforcement officials from other agencies.

“I was sorry to hear that the chiefs association has asked these gentlemen to step down and not serve,” Freeholder Tracy Zur, head of the board’s shared services committee said Tuesday. “They brought a dynamic that would have been very helpful.”

“I find it unfortunate that they are forced to choose between the president of the chiefs’ association and public service,” Zur added. “We will move forward with other experienced law enforcement officials who are not active chiefs to stop the politicization of the process.”

Batelli, who has criticized the proposed merger, disputed Zur’s claim.

“That’s not the case,” he said. “There wasn’t any pressure put on the chiefs to not participate. What was said was that we wanted to do it as an association.”

Batelli said he understood Zur’s position that the committee is simply there to help the freeholders implement the details of a merger and that a large group of chiefs would prove unwieldy and unworkable. He also noted that within the association, the opinions of chiefs vary on the merits of the merger.

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