By Ron Leir
HARRISON –
It was about 11 years ago that Harrison last hired a cop.
Now, finally, the long drought is over: As of Monday, Jan. 30, Frank Narvaez was named the town’s newest police officer. His hiring was ratified by the Town Council on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 7.
But the 24-year-old Paterson native didn’t come to the Police Department in the normal way, off of a state Civil Service appointment list.
Instead, illustrative of the tough economy, Harrison plucked Narvaez from a list of New Jersey cops laid off for economic reasons who, under legislation sponsored by State Sen. Ronald Rice Sr. (D-Essex), a former Newark cop, can be rehired by any municipality without having to reapply through Civil Service.
Narvaez started his law enforcement career at age 18 when the Paterson Police Department hired him as a dispatcher and booking officer. He then entered the Police Academy and successfully completed training that qualified him for appointment as a police officer.
He served as a Paterson cop for three years, only to lose his job in April 2011 when the city laid off 125 officers, about a quarter of the force, as economic casualties.
While looking for work Narvaez enrolled at Passaic County Community College to study business administration, which he says he’s considering pursuing as a second career after his police days are completed.
Married with a four-year-old son, Narvaez is bilingual with a fluency in Spanish. He is American-born; his dad was born in Spain.
On the basis of his prior police experience, Narvaez was placed on the second step of the union salary guide for police officer, so his annual base pay is $48,000 plus health benefits.
Narvaez and his family are still living in Paterson but the officer said he’s thinking of relocating to Harrison, particularly with the signs of development activity getting off the ground.
Last fall, Police Chief Derek Kearns had to accept a downsized department and a revised Table of Organization – dictated by a state monitoring agreement – that calls for a police department of “no more than” 46 members, but which now totals only 38.
“Since July 2011, I’ve lost eight positions through attrition,” said Kearns. Those slots include one captain, three lieutenants, three sergeants and one police officer, he said. Except for the one rank-and-file slot, none has been replaced, he added.
Asked about the new appointment, Joseph Nigro, president of Patrolman’s Benevolent Association Local 22, which bargains for the rank-and-file members of the Harrison force, said: “Hopefully, it’s the start of more hires. We are busy. We do need more manpower, particularly with all the new development we’re seeing and the new residents coming into the town.”
While there are a total of 22 officers on the departmental roster, not all of them are out on the street, Nigro noted. That total, he said, includes two detectives, a third “on loan” from Homeland Security plus one officer assigned to school detail.
Nigro acknowledged that the department is utilizing surveillance cameras to help deter crime, “but cameras don’t replace officers on the street,” he said.
Meanwhile, in other personnel moves, the Harrison Town Council voted last Tuesday to introduce an ordinance that creates “permanent Civil Service positions” to bring back retired Fire Chief Tom Dolaghan as a part-time aide to the mayor at $30 an hour for 20 hours a week and to hire retired municipal court employee Julie Walsh as a municipal court attendant at the same pay rate.
The ordinance is slated for a public hearing on March 6.
Mayor Ray McDonough said that Dolaghan would be assigned projects, as needed, such as serving as the town’s liaison to the newly reconstituted Board of Health, now under supervision of North Bergen Health Officer Richard Censullo.
Dolaghan would also be compiling state-mandated reports for the Office of Emergency Management and Meals on Wheels, filling out grant applications for various departments and following up with Public Service Electric & Gas on getting non-operating street lights replaced, McDonough said.
Dolaghan, who retired as fire chief Aug. 1, 2011, with a hefty terminal leave package and pension, said that the mayor asked him to return. “I’m glad he called me,” Dolaghan said. “Some departments are short of personnel to prepare reports and grant applications.”
Dolaghan said the requirements for the aide position called for “a four-year (college) degree and suitable management experience, which I have.”
At least one Harrisonian – who has previously tangled with the former chief – won’t be happy to see him back.
Dave Prina, president of the local unit of the Fireman’s Mutual Benevolent Association, which negotiates labor contracts on behalf of Harrison firefighters, griped that given the ex-chief’s retirement compensation and in light of the recent cutbacks in both the Police and Fire Departments and layoffs of civilian workers, Dolaghan “should be ashamed to take a job like that.”
