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“A lot of studying went into this process and as a result a lot of family time was taken away,” Papapietro said, shortly before Mayor Ann Subrizi swore in the half-dozen officers before a packed house at the Council meeting.
He thanked “our NMPD families for their patience during this process…. All the candidates are excellent police officers and a credit to the profession.”
“They were selected on the basis of their scores from an oral test conducted by the N.J. State Chiefs of Police Assoc., education and /or military experience and a Chief’s evaluation,” Papapietro said in an official statement. “The members of the testing committee consisted of Chiefs of Police from outside Bergen County.
“Candidates were required to have ten years of law enforcement service with at least eight with NMPD. There were fifteen candidates eligible of which twelve opted to partake in the process and nine were not eligible due to lack of required service time.”
New Milford Police Chief Frank Papapietro
“The past few years have been difficult for the department,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Yet our officers continued their high level of professionalism throughout and are finally beginning to see movement in a positive direction.”
The department had been operating for some time with a single lieutenant and detective sergeant, no captains at all, and only five sergeants due to retirements and budget cuts, said Papapietro, who frequently has found ways to do more with less. As a result, patrol officers often ended up doing work above their rank, he said.
This left the borough open to liability in case something went wrong and no supervisors were working.
For other potential ramifications, New Milford officials had to look no further than Englewood Cliffs, where the police union won a grievance against the municipality for the number of officers working out of title. Those officers now have to be compensated.
The new sergeants, along with six new lieutenants promoted last month, “represent the future of the New Milford Police Department,” Papapietro said.
They are:
Sgt. John Moroney, a 24-year veteran of the department, who has worked on patrol and in the detective bureau;
Detective Sgt. Brian Long, a 17-year borough veteran who also worked for the NYPD;
Sgt. Daniel LaMorges, who has been with the borough department for 12 years after working with NJ Transit Police;
Sgt. Brian Clancy, who has 11 years of department experience after coming over from the NYPD;
Sgt. Nicholas DiGenio, also an 11-year department veteran, who first served with NJ State Park Police and the state Department of Corrections;
Sgt. William Duby, Jr. , a 19-year department veteran with experience as a telecommunications operator with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department.
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