By Briana Vannozzi
Correspondent
With crime on the rise, Paterson officials say extra help is needed in the streets. They’re looking to hire up to 50 special police officers — part-time employees of the department.
“They’ll be able to do things that will not take away from the traditional police officer that’s on the street that needs to handle more intensified police work,” said Acting Paterson Police Department Director Jerry Speziale.
The special Class One training is allotted under a state statue. It requires about 80 hours of training. While the new recruits would have the title of police, their authority is limited and they can’t carry guns.
“It will be local ordinances, traffic control, spectator control, parades, crossing guard posts, all different types of loud music and nuisances that they will be able to handle. And there will also be the visibility of having them out there,” Speziale said.
When asked if the police department spread too thin right now, Paterson Councilman Andre Sayegh said, “There were 125 layoffs a number of years ago. Police were laid off in the city. So another idea was what other municipalities were doing and the Department of Community Affairs recommended we move in this direction to alleviate some of the overtime costs.”
Which Sayegh says are exorbitant. These Class One specials will make around $15 an hour and be limited to 20 hours a week. Right now it’s estimated they’ll save the city budget tens of thousands overall.
“We’re hoping that we’ll see the benefit as far as public safety is concerned and as far as the public coffers are concerned,” Sayegh said.
The council has been trying to get this off the ground since 2011 but it’s never gained traction and sources say it could be because up until now compensation was never offered. Previously these were called auxiliary officers which were unpaid volunteer positions.
“There’s a lot of good people here but then we have a lot of bad people too and I give my hands up to them. They’re trying to do what they can. I just wish that we had more,” said Paterson resident Lahoma Jennings.
Police Director Speziale added that the special officers have the same amount of accountability as the regular force which should improve liability issues.
“It will be a mesh between our regular police officers and our special police officers. They will actually answering to them and working with them,” he said.
They’re looking for Paterson residents over the age of 18 with a high school education, no criminal past and the ability to pass several evaluations.
“The vetting process is very similar and very characteristic to that of a police officer,” Speziale said.
Neither the Paterson nor the state police benevolent associations returned our requests for comment.
The ordinance goes up for a first reading on Sept. 17. If passed, training can start as early as October.