Howell Police Chief Gets No-Confidence Vote From Officers

HOWELL, NJ — In a vote of no confidence against Howell Township police chief Andrew Kudrick an overwhelming majority of PBA members showed discontent with their leadership.

PBA president James Alexander read a letter during public comment at the last council meeting on Tuesday detailing their grievances.

"Over the course of the last 18 months the chief has waged a targeted campaign against our local in general and against our members specifically," Alexander said. "The hostility of this campaign has steadily increased over time. Over the course of the last two years the morale within our police department has sunk to an all-time low."

According to Alexander, out of 71 members, only two expressed any support for Kudrick with an anonymous ballot.

According to the letter, officers feel like Kudrick has shown hostility towards the union with a long list of actions, from evicting the PBA office within the police department, to removing their vending machines and an ATM machine from the criminal justice building.

They said Kudrick also tried to sabotage their collective bargaining process and to circumvent the protections afforded to PBA members by unilaterally implementing scheduling limitations.

"Chief Kudrick has targeted union leadership by altering our work schedules, interfering with the advancement and direction of our careers and issuing unwanted and unwarranted discipline," Alexander. "This is not a letter listing the complaints of a group of disgruntled police officers. We're not complaining about wages of equipment," he said.

Mayor Theresa Berger said she only recently found out about these complaints and said it was "disturbing" that the council hadn't heard anything negative about the chief in the past two years.

"We need to do our due diligence on our side of the ledger to investigate the situations that you're describing," she said

Township manager Brian Geoghegan said that the administration was limited in the scope of what they could investigate.

"We need to rely on certain outside organizations to complete theirs as well," he said.

Township attorney Joseph Clark said that this was a personnel issue and that the township manager was therefore in charge of it, not the council.

"There are some things that are better kept in a tight group,"Clark said. "This township leeks like a sieve."

Alexander said that PBA members were hesitant about speaking publicly about the situation because they feared that Kudrick might retaliate.

"I believe that fact in and of itself speaks volumes regarding the current climate within our police department," Alexander said.

The PBA president also said that only after the vote of no confidence did Kudrick agree to meet with them, after repeatedly rebuffing their efforts to reach out.

The union leader said that the township administration has at times ruled in favor of their local over the past few months and that Kudrick failed to comply with the decision.

"Chief Kudrick largely fail to recognize any authority outside of himself," Alexander said, adding that he has "crossed boundaries both professionally and personally, that should never be crossed."

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