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Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler
“We have a problem with this. This order is illegal,” Raymond Hayducka, the first vice-president of the association told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning. “We have a statutory obligation to give the media timely information.
“Chief Kugler is one of the most respected police chiefs in the entire state,” Hayducka said. “He trained me and many other chiefs to foster relationships with the media, work with the media to make our communities safer and to give the media what it is legally required to have.”
The association has brought in its attorney and already has contacted Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli, he said.
Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT early this afternoon that he needed a bit of time to review Chamberlain’s directive and New Jersey Executive Order 69, which governs the release of information by a public entity to the media in New Jersey.
That said, the prosecutor noted that “to require prior approval before a Chief releases information that might be required of him under Executive Order 69 might not be appropriate as it might serve to defeat the intent of Executive Order 69 and probably runs afoul of our Court’s proscriptions in the SHORE V PARAMUS BOROUGH case.”
In that case, the courts found that Paramus violated the order by having the borough clerk running all public-records requests through the municipal attorney first.
For his part, Kugler told CLIFFVIEW PILOT: “In the interests of maintaining a professional relationship with the Office of the Mayor, I must decline any specific comment with respect to the executive order at this time.”
Hayducka, meanwhile, said the association is “at a loss to comprehend the mayor’s motivation.”
Hayducka, who is the South Brunswick police chief, refused to address the question when it was raised, but nearly eight years ago then-Mayor Louis D’Arminio terminated Chamberlain’s daughter from the Saddle Brook Police Department after determining she was unfit for duty.
However, a state Administrative Law judge later determined that the officer, Kimberly Perrelli, should be considered retired instead of fired, restoring her pension eligibility. Perrelli dropped sexual harassment charges she had lodged against Kugler and others.
Kugler, in cooperation and collaboration with Saddle Brook Creative TV (SBCreativeTV.com), said he’s been trying to “leverage all the possibilities the Internet has to offer to interact” with citizens.
Scheduled to debut a week from today, “Chief’s Chat” promised live call-in and text chat during which residents could ask questions. Kugler said he hoped to provide “interesting and informative discussions covering a wide range of topics in law enforcement and of benefit and interest to the community and general public.”
A little over a week ago, Chamberlain sent Kugler a directive in which she invoked the “Faulner Act” – actually the Faulkner Act – to order him to “immediately cease and desist all plans and/or communications with regard to your ‘Chief’s Chat’ … and that no further communications be issued from your department; in all media form, including but not limited to, all communications through newspaper, television, internet, e-mail and the like unless and until I, the Mayor and the Acting Township Business Administrator have approved such action.
“Further, be advised that the Mayor and the Acting Township Business Administrator shall be notified when any and all news media, not limited to technological communications, contact the department prior to any response by your or your designee.”
The two have a long and acrimonious history.
In a previous stint as mayor 10 years ago, Chamberlain directly promoted officers without telling Kugler.
Councilman Louis D’Arminio — a former Hackensack detective sergeant who went on to become mayor himself — later insisted Chamberlain remove herself from all police business. She refused.
D’Arminio said he made the request as a response to Perrelli’s lawsuit but also because Chamberlain had clashed so often with Kugler.
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