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“For me, this is not a job,” Mordaga told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight, after his appointment was announced. “This is returning to the Hackensack police department, which was my passion, where my career was, and to the city, so that I can work with the department and the residents and the businesspeople, as a team, to bring pride back to the department and restore the faith of its citizens.”
- EXCLUSIVE (ONLY ON CVP): New Hackensack Police Director Mike Mordaga didn’t have many reservations about applying for the job — not after being contacted by, among others, the department PBA, business owners and clergy once the City Council created the position last fall. READ MORE….
What had been a rumor this afternoon was confirmed by several law enforcement sources to CLIFFVIEW PILOT moments before City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono made the official announcement at tonight’s City Council meeting.
Mordaga, who once was a city detective and chief of detectives for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, officially begins work on Feb. 4, after being approved for the position by the City Council just before the announcement.
Despite an outstanding reputation, Bergen County’s best-known police officer has detractors who’ve spent much of the past four years trying to link him to wrongdoing — all without success. As a result, the 6-foot-4-inch vet returns to the 114-member department the conquering hero.
Mordaga was Hackensack’s captain of detectives — and then “inspector” — until 2002 under former Chief Ken Zisa before going to work for Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli.
The Brooklyn-born Hackensack native was a natural from the start, beginning his career working drug stings as an undercover narcotics officer for the Prosecutor’s Office.
Perceptive and tenacious, he quickly went on to make his name as a tough, street-smart cop who thought on his feet, receiving a trove of awards and citations for heroism — including one time when he shot a drug dealer drivng a speeding car while clinging to the hood and another when he snatched a machine gun from a man who’d pointed it at his fellow officers. But he was also savvy enough that Zisa trusted him as his de facto public information officer for several years.
Many don’t know that Mordaga also has the distinction of “liberalizing” case law in favor of police. In one instance, the New Jersey Supreme Court expanded police authority when they know a warrant exists but aren’t carrying it.
In another, the state’s highest court for the first time upheld attempted robbery as a legitimate charge against someone caught before actually committing the crime. Mordaga had arrested a masked gunman as he walked into the old Roy Rogers on River Road in Hackensack. Although weapons possession was the only charge usually brought in such instances, Mordaga effectively broadened the boundaries.
Despite the hard-ass persona, Mordaga cultivated an enormous stable of informants — both on the outside and behind bars — who helped solve countless crimes.
They also helped a police and crime editor at a local newspaper who wanted to do a story in which convicted burglars gave residents tips on how to protect their homes.
Mordaga also insisted on accompanying one of that editor’s other reporters as she explored the caves on the New York City side of the Palisades.
Both times, the reporters produced outstanding, from-the-inside stories rarely found elsewhere.
Mordaga also created the Bergen County Police Athletic Association gym in Hackensack, where troubled youngsters could learn discipline and see the benefits of toeing the line.
Zisa, his former boss, is currently under house arrest while appealing a five-year sentence for convictions of official misconduct and insurance fraud. Meanwhile, nearly two dozen member of the department have sued, claiming retaliation and civil rights violations by the former chief and his supporters.
After a grand jury indicted Zisa in 2010, city officials suspended him and signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which the prosecutor’s office monitored the department, with city Capt. Tomas Padilla serving as acting commander.
Several officers told CLIFFVIEW PILOT there was a marked improvement in morale under Padilla, a former freeholder. His open and honest management style went a long way to restoring what had been the department’s tattered image.
Jockeying continued to succeed Padilla, who announced in September that he was stepping down once he hit 25 years of service next month.
The City Council removed the competition in November by agreeing to hire a police director instead of appointing a new chief.
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