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Politics & Government

New Brunswick Collected $449,277 in Administrative Fees in 2010 for Use of Off-Duty Police Officers

$17 municipal administrative fee for city police on off-duty assignments and $15 fee collected for use of city police cars on those assignments result in non-tax revenue for the city.

Off-duty security jobs provide New Brunswick police officers with plenty of opportunities for additional income. An eight-hour day at a road construction project pays $432, while six hours of night security work at a trouble-plagued bar produces $486.

But the officers aren’t the only ones picking up extra cash. Through a $17 municipal administrative fee, the City of New Brunswick last year collected $449,277 from businesses and other entities that hired off-duty police officers. And that doesn’t include what the city collected on a separate $15 fee imposed whenever off-duty work required the use of a police car.

New Brunswick’s administrative fees for use of off-duty police officers are higher – in some cases four times higher - than those charged in surrounding towns. And now city officials are considering raising them by about 25 percent over the next four years.

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“We do make money on police officer extra-duty work,’’ said city spokesman Bill Bray. “The city is in the black on this and that’s a good thing. This is another way we can offset the cost of public safety for the city.’’

Moreover, Bray said, extra-duty assignments allow New Brunswick to reap “the benefit of having extra cops out on the street at no cost to the taxpayers.’’

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Here are some of bigger tallies for off-duty pay in 2010, according to statistics provided by the city:

  • Public Service Gas & Electric paid $387,293 for officers and administrative fees.
  • Verizon paid $138,752.
  • TD Bank paid $100,417, mostly for an officer to prevent non-customers from using its parking lot.
  • Rutgers paid $91,483.
  • Johnson & Johnson paid $76,388.

“As a long-time resident of New Brunswick, Johnson & Johnson has cultivated and maintained an excellent relationship with the New Brunswick Police Department and has, on rare occasions, used off-duty police officers to enhance its own security needs for special events, traffic control and protection of the company’s downtown campus,’’ said company spokesman Al Wasilewski.

“The company will continue to partner with New Brunswick Police Department on an as-needed basis. Cost for using these services is a part of maintaining a very active worldwide headquarters facility in a city location and ensuring the safety of employees, visitors and the surrounding community,’’ Wasilewski said.

Under a proposed ordinance, New Brunswick’s $17 administrative fee for police off-duty assignments will grow by $1 per year for each of the next four years. The $15 vehicle fee will rise at the same rate.

In comparison, neighboring Franklin Township charges an administrative fee of $5 for security jobs and $7 for traffic work, said Sgt. Philip Rizzo. Franklin adds a $2.50 gas surcharge, Rizzo said.

“This is what it is,’’ Bray said of New Brunswick’s higher fees.

In addition to covering normal administrative costs like payroll and accounting, Bray said the $17 fee allows New Brunswick to have money to guarantee payment to the police officers even if a construction company, for example, “stiffs the cops on what they’re owed.”

Also, Bray said, officers on off-duty jobs are covered for workers’ compensation if they are hurt during the assignment.

For years, New Brunswick had been charging the $15 vehicle fee even though it wasn’t included in the city’s ordinance, Bray said. The fee formally was added to the ordinance earlier this month.

Within the last couple years, New Brunswick bought five Dodge Dakota pickup trucks that are used exclusively for off-duty work, Bray said.

“Extra-duty assignments put a lot of wear and tear on vehicles that are sitting there running their engines,’’ Bray said.

The Dakotas have a fuel-saving mechanism that shuts their engines on and off, depending on the juice in their batteries, and allows the flashing lights to remain on, Bray said.

Although New Brunswick collects much higher administrative fees than surrounding towns, city police officers do not enjoy a similar advantage.

For example, in Franklin, police officers get $50 per hour for security details and $70 for traffic jobs. In New Brunswick, the current hourly rate is $54, but that will rise in $3 increments to $66 by 2015.

New Brunswick officers also receive a time-and-a-half premium rate for hours worked between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. At present, that amounts to $81 per hour.

Back in January, New Brunswick’s off-duty program became entangled in a criminal case. Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan filed charges accusing former Sgt. Victor DeFilippo of performing extra-duty security jobs with private companies during hours he was supposed to be working for the city as a police officer.

DeFilippo, who is in his early 40s, accepted the extra work while on duty between Jan. 5, 2009, and July 16, 2010, according to Kaplan’s press release.

DeFilippo, a 20-year veteran, put in for retirement in December 2010 after the city discovered his actions, officials said. He was charged with one count of third-degree theft by deception and eventually was accepted into Pre-Trial Intervention, a probationary program, in May, according to court records.

Bray declined to comment on the DeFilippo case.

When asked whether New Brunswick revised its extra-duty program as a result of the incident, he said, “We haven’t changed any of our policies.’’

“It’s against our policy to take off-duty assignments while on duty,’’ Bray added. “If someone chooses to violate our policy, they’re going to violate our policy.’’

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