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The move followed the New Jersey Police Training Commission's lifting earlier this week of a suspension of training for new recruits, Tedesco said on Jan. 18.
Ehrenberg, who's currently the county's deputy administrator, has had a long and distinguished public service career. The 36-year police veteran, who was the Paramus chief for a decade, has also been a borough firefighter since 1982.
Tedesco's moves are a huge step forward since Daily Voice exclusively reported last Dec. 16 that all of the academy’s instructors except one were relieved of their duties by the training commission.
As a result, Academy Class #132, which was supposed to begin training this month, was suspended indefinitely.
This left law enforcement agencies throughout the county scrambling to get an estimated 100 new hires into academies in other counties.
They weren't having much luck, unfortunately. A few spots in Hudson were quickly snatched up. Passaic, Essex and Morris are all either full up or not starting soon, local police officials told Daily Voice.
Taxpayers would've seen a direct effect of new Bergen recruits being accepted at outside academies.
“You have to pay to send your people somewhere else,” said a ranking police official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The instructors at the Bergen academy in Mahwah were reassigned amid accusations of ethics code violations, including socializing and other alleged relations with recruits before graduation, multiple high-ranking law enforcement officers in the county told Daily Voice.
Other as-yet unspecified improprieties were being investigated by the PTC as part of what one of them called a “huge systematic issue” among instructors at the academy, which operates as a partnership among the county and both his and the Bergen sheriff’s office.
“There’s a lot of cleaning house going on right now,” another high-ranking law enforcement official told Daily Voice. “No classes will be scheduled until that’s done.”
Two weeks ago, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced that his office is investigating the allegations.
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EXCLUSIVE REPORT (Dec. 16, 2023): The latest recruits to officially graduate from the Bergen County Police Academy on Friday night might be the last for some time, it appears. READ MORE....
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“We have been working collaboratively with the PTC, the County of Bergen, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association to ensure that the Academy provides all police cadets with the highest standards of professional training possible, and we are committed to implementing all reforms recommended by the PTC," Musella said.
Tedesco echoes those sentiments at the time.In Thursday's announcement, he added: "The County of Bergen will work with the PTC to satisfy the remaining requirements to allow for the resumption of classes at the Bergen County Police Academy."
The upheaval at the academy began with an anonymous letter to the New Jersey Police Training Commission (PTC), multiple sources said.
The organization is responsible for providing basic training courses for -- and certifying -- local and county police, sheriff’s officers, state and county investigators, state and county corrections officers and juvenile detention officers, as well as those in several other law enforcement positions.
The commission also certifies and provides developmental courses for instructors assigned to permanent positions, including those who were at the Bergen academy.
The PTC also “develops operational guidelines to implement applicable training standards, monitors the operation of all PTC certified academies, reviews all trainee injuries and investigates possible violations of the Police Training Act or PTC Rules occurring during authorized training courses,” according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
The upcoming class initially was pushed back to February. Then came word that it had been suspended indefinitely.
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