Council Drops Police Overtime Investigation

Mahwah township officials have dropped a potential investigation into the approval increased police overtime last year, citing “multiple misunderstandings,” that led to the increase.

Last month, the township council formed an ad hoc committee to investigate whether or not it would be feasible to fund an investigation to determine who approved a policy that allowed police officers to attend Tuesday night court proceedings in the township. The policy change led to an increase in police overtime spending, but the township prosecutor, police chief, and mayor all declined authorizing the new policy.

At Thursday night’s council meeting, the council discussed the results of the ad hoc committee’s findings in closed session before reading a prepared joint statement from the mayor and council announcing that there would be no further investigation into the issue.

Council President Harry Williams read the statement.

“The Mayor and Council have held extensive discussions in an effort to resolve the issues surrounding the recently disputed matter of police court overtime. From our discussions we have concluded that there were multiple misunderstandings by various parties at several levels,” he said. “These misunderstandings led to miscommunications between the Mayor and Council and heightened levels of mistrust and acrimony which have become counterintuitive to a productive working relationship.”

He went on to say, “both the Mayor and Council have agreed that rather than expend additional time and resources dissecting the anatomy of misunderstandings our efforts would be more appropriately and productively spent dealing with the considerable issues confronting the township.”

In the statement, both parties cleared the involvement of the police chief and prosecutor, saying “there were no grounds for any allegations of wrongdoing by either.”

The joint statement concluded that the mayor and council would work more cooperatively in the future in an effort to mitigate “misunderstandings.”

The issue of police overtime spending in 2012 is considered “concluded,” Williams said.

The council voted earlier this year to cut the overtime budget for 2013, and return officers to the previous policy, which allowed them to appear in Tuesday night court only if requested by the judge or prosecutor.

The initial push for an investigation was fueled by council questioning and comments from residents concerned about the issue at past council meetings. Residents in the audience for the decision read Thursday night declined to comment on the dropped investigation and joint statement.

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