Paramus Plans to Fill Vacant Deputy Police Chief Position

The Paramus governing body plans to fill the vacant Deputy Chief of Police position by promoting ones of its captains at no salary increase.

The existing position has not been filled for about two or three years due to salary increase concerns, explained Mayor Richard LaBarbiera. He called it an important position as it establishes hierarchy in the absence of the chief.

LaBarbiera is looking to fill the position by appointing Captain Kenneth Ehrenberg to the position at a zero salary increase. The mayor said the zero salary increase will not be negotiated.

The discussion raised the proposed police promotion ordinance, which is supposed to establish a promotion policy, as it still remains in review of the PBA.

According to LaBarbiera the promotion ordinance would not apply to the deputy chief position or the police chief.

However the ordinance would pertain to captain positions therefore if the deputy chief position is accepted by Ehrenberg it would open the door to a captain promotion for someone else in the department.

Borough officials said they would prefer to have the ordinance in place before making any promotions however the need to fill a captain vacancy would be quite immediate.  An interim captain promotion would likely be the way to resolve this if the ordinance is not yet adopted.

Councilman Ralph Amato said he hoped the borough can move on the promotion ordinance at the next meeting adding that the PBA has been given a lot of time to review.  

Back in December it was expected the ordinance was finalized and ready for approval but “some eleventh hour comments” caused it to go back to the PBA for review where it still remains, according to LaBarbiera.

In addition, borough officials took steps Tuesday towards hiring two more police officers for the department while also laying a foundation towards establishing a hiring policy.

Officials agreed last month to go ahead with the hiring of two officers as the department remains low on manpower, down 28 officers according to Chief Christopher Brock. The loss of manpower came from retirements in recent years and a previous hiring freeze.

Currently there is no official hiring process in place. Officials are working towards adopting an ordinance that would memorialize the process they wish to put in place, according to Borough Attorney Paul Kaufmann.

Officials agreed that a hiring committee should consist of the borough administrator, police commissioner and the police chief.

The mayor and council also reviewed and finalized the advertisement for the two new officers hoping to post it immediately so as to get the process in motion as quickly as possible.