Jackson council OKs public safety director job, who will oversee the police chief

JACKSON – The police department will soon be under the control of a civilian for the first time in 16 years, much to the delight of police officers’ unions but to the chagrin of its longtime chief.

Jackson Township Council on Tuesday voted to create a new public safety director position, whose titleholder would outrank every uniformed officer in the department, after debate over dissension within police ranks and whether the solution is as easy as creating a new figurehead.

Tension between Police Chief Matthew Kunz and the departments' two police unions became public over the last month in advance of the council introducing an ordinance creating the new public safety director job. Union leaders have accused Kunz of not doing enough to hire new officers.

"We, the (officers) who work inside that building every day, see firsthand what we lack and what we need to make the agency the best it can be," said Officer Jeff Henba, president of Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 168, which represents rank-and-file police officers in Jackson.

Kunz declined an interview request.

On Feb. 13, he told council members that the “divisive, interpersonal and political disputes” stemming from discussion of the public safety director job had created an “unhealthy, systemic distraction” within the department.

Kunz said hiring had slowed down due to a dearth of qualified candidates, but noted that the department is only two officers shy of the 110-officer complement established by township code.

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“I believe the business of the department, like the business of the township, belongs at a conference table – not an uncomfortable public forum, where it’s akin to airing dirty laundry,” Kunz said on Feb. 13.

Sgt John Rodriguez, president of Superior Officers Association local 168-A, said that, while the desire for a change in leadership has persisted for months, dissension bubbled to the surface in recent months after a disciplinary incident involving a detective lieutenant, which neither Rodriguez nor Kunz have expanded upon.

And earlier this month, Kunz's testimony in a trial involving a police chase that killed both a suspect and bystander was immediately followed by a $1.2 million settlement, township attorney Greg McGuckin said.

The addition of a public safety director wouldn't eliminate the position of police chief, who would continue handling day-to-day operations of the department.

The public safety director, required to have at least 20 years of police experience and achieved the rank of sergeant, would handle budgetary issues, liaise with elected and other government officials and handle the enforcement of new policing directives from the state. But they wouldn't be a uniformed officer – they wouldn't have a badge or gun.

Jackson is far from the first municipality, in New Jersey and beyond, to go through the debate of what type of person should lead its law enforcement personnel. The arguments for and against are voluminous, but essentially boil down to police chiefs, and associations promoting them, arguing that only uniformed officers can make decisions free of political repercussion.

Civilian advocates believe that only someone from outside a department can hold its officers and leaders accountable.

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Kunz, 57, holds the ironic distinction of being the township’s last public safety director. The position was abolished in 2008, with elected officials citing a desire to get politics out of policing. Kunz was instead named the department’s new chief.

Council members expect the new public safety director to earn a salary of at least $200,000, a price tag that discouraged Councilmen Nino Borrelli and Steve Chisholm, Jr., from supporting the endeavor.

"If this is an ongoing problem and there's such an issue with the chief, I don’t see how another $200,000 salary is going to correct that," Chisholm said. "It just adds another burden to the taxpayers.

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Why Jackson police will soon be run by public safety director