From cities to suburbs, police departments across N.J. suffer staff cuts

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While Chris Christie travels all over American on his 2012 campaign tour, tours baseball parks all over America with his children, visits Disney World with his family (with his Lt. Governor vacationing at the same time in Mexico) all during one of the worst blizzards in New Jersey history, Christie's draconian, heartless, idea-less economic policies continue to eviscerate cities and towns all across New Jersey. And these service cuts aren't limited to police. Fire, municipal services, education, property tax aid to seniors, school meal programs for needy kids, libraries, infrastructure, New Jersey Transit fare increases, the list goes on and on and on like some rabid EverReady Bunny.

But it's OK. Christie managed, at the same time, to give New Jersey millionaires a tax break.

From cities to suburbs, police departments across N.J. suffer staff cuts

Published: Thursday, December 30, 2010, 9:45 PM Updated: Friday, December 31, 2010, 7:37 AM
Dan Goldberg/The Star-Ledger By Dan Goldberg/The Star-Ledger

"It has been a rough year for New Jersey police. Layoffs in two high-crime cities — Camden and Newark — received lots of attention, but smaller departments are dealing with similar staff reductions and facing similar challenges.

Hiring freezes combined with attrition, and in some cases layoffs, have caused municipal police departments to shrink about 11 percent between Jan. 1, 2009 and Sept. 10, 2010, according to the PBA, which represents officers in 423 of New Jersey’s 566 municipalities. Those layoffs mean 2,228 fewer officers across the state.

"The good starting point is where isn’t this happening," said Mitchell Sklar, executive director of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.

But the better question is, what does it mean for the communities served?"

You can read the rest of the article at this link:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/from_cities_to_suburbs_police.html