Police Unions Urge Mayor to Hire More Cops

Hoboken's police unions and the administration cannot seem to agree on whether crime in town is up or down.

In a release—signed by Police Benevolent Association President Vince Lombardi and Police Superior Officers Association President Eddie Drishti—the officers are asking the city to hire more officers, using increased crime as their argument. 

"We implore Mayor Dawn Zimmer to act swiftly and authorize the hiring of a minimum of 15 full time police officers," the union officials wrote. Currently, the police department has 89 full time officers—26 sergeants, 12 lieutenants, 2 captains and 1 chief, according to the police. Police said the department is at its lowest staffing level since 1995. 

According to their release, 27 members of the police department will be eligible for retirement next year. 

The police unions said that the violent crime rate increased by 20 percent and that the crime index increased by 4 percent, mentioning especially sexual assault, robbery and motor vehicle theft.

The city countered the police's numbers. 

"According to Uniform Crime Reports and Hoboken Police Department data, there were a total of 1,260 reported crimes in 2009, 1135 in 2010, and 1,062 in 2011, a decrease of 15.7 percent in two years," Zimmer said. "The number of calls for service to the Police Department dropped from 63,009 in 2010 to 58,185 in 2011, a decrease of 7.7 percent."

Zimmer continued, "while some categories of offenses have gone down and some categories have gone up, overall crime in Hoboken is down significantly."

The city is also for busy days—such as or the Fourth of July—and weekends when the town gets busy with out-of-towners. 

Hoboken police, however, would rather see new full time cops on the beat. The mayor has not said anything about hiring new police officers. 

"The City seems to be focused on only providing police on the cheap," the union presidents wrote.

While their opinions differ on the numbers, both parties still say they have the same goal in mind: lowering crime in Hoboken. 

"Even one crime," Zimmer said, "is one too many."