The Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of NY and NJ was caught in a secret plan to allow the Board members to each recommend at least two "candidates" to the list of potential Port Authority Police officers. These "candidates" were to be placed on the top of the any future list of new police officer candidates, apparently with no regard for their actual placement on the list, after written, physical, and oral, examinations.
The New York Times on 9/03 relates a follow-up by NJ Governor Christine Whitman to find out why this policy was discussed at a July meeting of the PA Board, yet was not detailed in the minutes of the meeting. The Times story reports that, upon receiving a letter from Whitman saying that "if this policy had been on the minutes she would vetoed it," according to a Whitman spokesman, the PA Board scuttled the idea. The original report of the Board's plan was first exposed by the Newark Star-Ledger.
John Dyson, an aide to NYC Mayor Giuliani (who has frequently criticized the PAPD because they've gotten raises that Giuliani will not allow for the NYPD), called the PAPD in the Times article "Keystone Kops" that were now being infiltrated by "political hacks."
The recent pay raise received by the PA Police has made the job highly desirable to many seeking police careers, especially on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, where local police fight vigorously for salaries nowhere equal to the PA money. Had the PA Board's policy been able to sneak though, a hand-full of politically connected people would be able to partake in the PA Police benefits without even having to compete with those further down on the list. Needless to say, this political influence would continue throughout their time on the job, including promotions.
The Port Authority Police hirings and promotions are not covered by Civil Service laws in either NY or NJ. The PA is basically left to its own designs and union contractual agreements in determining the procedures for just who get hired or promoted. Tests are given, but usually not completely adhered to.
However, PA cops that Prosay has spoken to are not too happy with the response from Port Authority PBA President Gus Danese, reported in the Times. Said Danese, "What isn't politicized?...It's just a way of doing business." According to the PA cops, the PA PBA over the years has fought very hard to eliminate just this type of activity by the Port Authority within the Police Department. Yet, now, the PBA president seems to accept, if not endorse, the idea. Some told Prosay that the feeling down in the trenches was that Danese has been in the president's spot too long, and has become complacent with the PA's activities versus the union membership, since he negotiated the last contract. "Gus has isolated himself from the membership, even those who initially supported him," says one cop from a Manhattan PA facility. "Maybe he just doesn't want to rock the boat with the PA."
Yet these same PA cops did not have any illusions that politics would not play some role for some appointees, as it has in the past. "Really, the difference with this stuff and the policy in the past was that the person that was "hooked-up" and on the list would still have to compete, but would definitely get made (a cop) sooner rather than later. This was just blantant politics with no regard to the policy in place (for the appointment of cops to the job)," related a long-time officer.
Ironically, the Police Review related just what happens when the political system enters the promotional phase of the PA police, in a "Newsnote" story last week.
