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PRESIDENT'S TESTIMONY
BEFORE THE SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE ON BILL S7 Thank you Senator Buono for the opportunity to comment on Senate Bill 7. My name is Tony Wieners and I am President of the 33,000 member New Jersey State PBA. I think you are all aware that we consider maintaining a healthy and stable pension system to be the top priority for the State PBA. For nearly 20 years, our members have been making the highest pension contribution of any public employee in the State of new Jersey to support our pensions. We are keenly aware, that the only way a pension system can survive is if contributions from employees and employers, coupled with good investments, are allowed to grow. However, our pension system has grown more underfunded nearly every year since 2002. The primary reason for this can be traced to legislation similar to what is being proposed in Senate Bill 7. In fact, this legislation is déjà vu all over again. Pension deferrals have been passed by the Legislation in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Whether by use of pension assets or delayed contributions, local governments were given the ability to skip their pension payments. We know from the past few years that the lack of contributions coming into the system, coupled with bad investments, have led to dramatic drops in the value of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System. The more these payments were delayed, the higher the cost to local government when the bill to repay them came due. That is exactly what happened at the end of the last pension deferral. It is what we can expect in three years when the deferred contributions must be repaid under Senate Bill 7. I believe there is another lesson to be learned of the mistakes of past pension deferrals. The intended purpose of the deferrals was to either reduce the property tax burden or to provide direct property tax relief on taxpayers. The past deferrals did neither. Taxes went up and we are unaware of what became of the $8 billion saved by local governments as a result of these skipped payments. In fact, the result has been a rush to lay the blame for rising taxes on public employees and we especially are feeling an impact as real and threatened layoffs are occurring today. These concerns are not merely my own. Two different Committees established to study the pension system came to the same conclusion. The Murphy Commission, appointed by Governor Codey in 2005, and the Joint Committee on Public Employee Benefit Reform in 2006 both criticized pension deferrals as the reason for the growing unfunded liability in the pension systems. I believe this vicious circle has to be closed or we will be having this same discussion in 2012. As taxpayers and employees, we are very sympathetic to the conditions facing the State in this economic crisis. High property taxes impact our members like every family in the State but we especially feel the impact of these pension deferrals and the lack of protections for law enforcement in the cap law. Delaying these contributions again is like paying the American Express with the Visa card. Eventually, the bill is going to come due and the costs are going to be severe. Thank you for considering my comments and I am happy to take any questions.
Wednesday October 22, 2008 Bystanders save officer from burning wreckageEAST WINDSOR -- Bystanders saved the life of a township police officer by pulling the injured and dazed man from his patrol car as it became engulfed in flames following an accident on Old York Road last night, according to witnesses. The officer, Paul Wille, 27, was rushed to the regional trauma center at Capital Health System at Fuld hospital in Trenton suffering from multiple injuries to his head and neck. While his exact condition was not available, authorities late last night said Wille was conscious and alert at the hospital. Wille is a three-year veteran of the police force. Witnesses last night credited Terrence Nish, 27, and his girlfriend, Shannon Scott, 25, both of South Brunswick, with saving Wille, who was trapped in the wreckage after his patrol car slammed into a tree and a utility pole and ended up in a ditch. "They're heroes. What they did was extraordinary. They got him out before the car exploded," said Old York Road resident Frank Sparacino, who like his neighbors ran from their homes following the 7:20 p.m. crash. Township police and detectives from the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office were still conducting their investigation at the crash scene last night. But authorities said preliminary information indicates Wille lost control of his patrol car while driving south on Old York Road on his way to assist other officers who were attempting to subdue a man who was resisting arrest in the 200 block of Cedarville Road, authorities said, adding that the man was being arrested for a disorderly persons offense. Neighborhood residents said the crash occurred along a bend in the road in the 800 block of Old York Road. Lisa Scott, across from whose home the accident occurred, said her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend had arrived for a visit and had just sat down at the dinner table when they heard the crash. Running outside, they found the smashed patrol car in the ditch, its emergency lights still flashing. She said Wille -- trapped in the car -- was obviously badly injured and appeared unconscious. "Terry tried to get the door open, but it wouldn't budge. Then smoke started coming out from under the hood and we started to panic," Lisa Scott recalled. "Then a woman pulled up in a Suburban. Terry took the trailer hitch off her car and broke the (patrol car's) window." When his driver's door window shattered, Wille began to regain consciousness, Lisa Scott said. "He kept saying, 'My neck! My neck!' " she said. Nish, aided by others, attempted to pull the officer from the car but was unable to unbuckle Wille's seat belt. Wille was able to retrieve a knife he had on his belt and passed it to Nish, who used it to cut the seat belt. "By then the flames were already in the passenger seat," Lisa Scott said. Nish was then able to pull Wille from the patrol car. Aided by the others, he carried the officer to a safe distance away just as the patrol car became enveloped in flames. "We got blankets and wrapped him up," she said. Ammunition stored inside the burning patrol car then started going off, witnesses said. Lisa Scott said she and her family are praying Wille recovers from the wreck. "My heart goes out to him. I hope he's going to be OK." Old York Road was closed for several hours between Conover Road and Eastwood Drive last night while authorities investigated. 19 August 2008:
State Policemen's Association Declares War on
Telemarketers 06 June 2008: New Jersey State PBA President Receives Award The New Jersey Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association gave its first ever law enforcement recognition award to New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association President Anthony Wieners on June 5 in Atlantic City. The award recognized President Wiener’s dedication and leadership in representing law enforcement both at the State and national levels. The organization cited President Wiener’s national fight to restore police funding as pivotal to the work they do. “I have been to Washington, D.C. on several occasions and testified before Congress about the danger in cutting police funding. I realize the work done by the New Jersey Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association is vital and needs to be funded. The award tonight just solidifies my efforts. I thank them for this special award,” said President Wieners. The New Jersey Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association (NJNEOA) has more than two thousand members that represent Federal, State, County, and Municipal law enforcement as well as private industry, the professions, education and government. The NJNEOA was organized to encourage mutual cooperation, discussion and interest in the problems of enforcement concerning drug abuse; to exchange ideas, conduct seminars and conferences to educate those involved in the abatement of the illegal narcotic trade. 22 May 2008:
Two charged in cop's Bahamas shooting Thursday, May 22, 2008 BY SERDAR TUMGOREN STAFF WRITER Two men were charged Wednesday with the attempted murder of a Bergenfield police officer who was shot during an attempted robbery in the Bahamas, according to a police union representative. Ebenezer Sherman, 18, and Bradley Sanders, 21, both of the Bahamas, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, attempted robbery and causing harm, said Jim Ryan, spokesman for the New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Association. Bahamian police have not found the weapon, but say they believe that Sherman used a .22- or .38-caliber handgun to shoot Officer John Casper, a 19-year veteran of the Bergenfield department who was vacationing when the incident occurred May 14. Sherman allegedly fired the shot during a robbery attempt, after Casper tried to intervene in a struggle over a purse between Sanders and a woman in the officer's group of friends. The assailants fled after shooting Casper near the home of former Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie, authorities say. A member of his security detail commandeered a vehicle and rushed Casper to a hospital. The officer, who was airlifted to New Jersey on Monday, remained in "good" condition Wednesday at Hackensack University Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. "The surgeon down there took very good care of him," Dr. John LoCurto, director of the hospital's trauma center, said Tuesday night. "They were able to stop the bleeding and they were able to save him. He was very lucky." He said doctors are monitoring Casper closely due to the danger of infection. LoCurto said that in coming days doctors plan to remove the bullet that wounded Casper in the upper left region of his chest. Ryan said Bahamian police indicated they may eventually require Casper to testify in the case. He said Sanders and Sherman, neither of whom have prior criminal records, remain in jail without the option of bail. The case has gained widespread attention in the Bahamas, and a crowd of onlookers and reporters gathered outside the courthouse Wednesday morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two defendants after their arraignment, Ryan said. Nearly a dozen Bahamian police officials stood guard around the pair while the charges were read. Bahamian detectives told Ryan that they surprised the men Monday morning at their homes, based on a tip they received after publicizing sketches of the assailants. "People are asking us how [Officer Casper] is doing," said Ryan, who flew back to the United States on Wednesday after two days in the Bahamas. "One of the questions that many people have asked is whether Officer Casper is mad at our country. We told them that crime can happen anywhere." The PBA plans to hold a ceremony in November honoring the Bahamian police officer who rushed Casper to the hospital, as well as the motorist who gave up her car, according to a report in The Nassau Guardian. The PBA also plans to offer a reward to the tipster who helped apprehend the alleged assailants, if they are convicted01 May 2008: Police officers, chiefs spar over ticket 'quotas'Cops say counting citations is no way to gauge their productivity Thursday, May 01, 2008 BY MARIAM JUKAKU Star-Ledger Staff Police departments in a handful of New Jersey towns are implementing directives that require officers to write a minimum number of tickets every month. To the police chiefs and mayors in those towns, the directives are a good way to measure productivity, and officers who don't comply can face unsatisfactory performance reviews. To some officers and the state Policemen's Benevolent Association, they're something else: quotas designed to generate revenue for financially strapped municipalities. "We're not toll collectors, we're public safety officers," said James Ryan, spokesman for the state Policemen's Benevolent Association. "When the greater good is public safety, that's where (writing more tickets) makes sense. But (not) if there's no increase in traffic accidents, no increase in fatalities." Ryan said five to 10 officers from departments statewide have raised complaints in recent months. Mitchell Sklar, executive director of the State Association of Chiefs of Police, said departments can demand officers perform at the same level as peers and one way to monitor performance is the average number of tickets written. "How could you otherwise look at performance? You can't subtract traffic or road safety from the duties of a police officer," Sklar said. "It's critical to manage day-to-day operations." A 2001 state statute makes it illegal for any law enforcement agency to force police officers to make a certain number of arrests or citations. But it is legal to use an average number of summonses written when it is one of several criteria for promotion, demotion or dismissal. And that's exactly what's happening in Fanwood. At the beginning of this month, police officers in the Union County borough were told they should expect to write at least 27 tickets each month if they want to keep in line with the average set for the department. That includes parking tickets, moving violations and non-moving violations. Police Chief Don Domanoski, who's been with the department for 31 years, said an officer's ticket-writing activity is just one criteria in a multifaceted quarterly evaluation. "If you didn't hit those numbers in that quarter, not a problem," Domanoski said. "But justify what you were doing." But Tony Espinosa, president of the local Policemen's Benevolent Association No. 123, said members of the union are wondering if the new directive gives officers less discretion in doing their job. "We understand that as a police officer, writing tickets is part of our job," said Espinosa, who's been a patrolman with the department since 2003. "But we were never (before) strongly encouraged to go out and write that many tickets." Fanwood is facing a 17 percent cut in municipal aid from the state and a shortfall in municipal court revenue. Mayor Colleen Mahr said she has asked each borough department to cut at least 16 percent of their projected expenses. She said it is up to department heads to determine whether that cut will include layoffs. "In these fiscally tight times, we're looking at productivity and efficiency," Mahr said. "Why wouldn't we want to make sure that one of the largest departments is operating efficiently?" Mahr said police officers who are performing up to the standards set by the department have nothing to worry about. She said they should expect to be evaluated like any other city employee. In Ocean Township in Monmouth County, two police officers this year had warnings placed in their personnel files for not writing enough tickets. After receiving a complaint from the PBA, the police chief removed the warnings and rewrote the language of the evaluation, according to Luke Sciallo, state delegate for their local PBA. He echoed concerns of officers in Fanwood that putting a number on an evaluation takes away an officer's discretion. "We're not revenue generators for the town," Sciallo said. "Maybe (an officer) taught D.A.R.E. every day that week, maybe he stopped 50 cars and didn't give a ticket. You put a number on it, it's a quota." Sklar said chiefs should be able to evaluate their officers any time they want, not just when the economy is strong. "When is there not a budget crunch? If the only time you can re-evaluate the performance of your officers is during flush financial times, tell me in what century you'll be able to (do it)?" Sklar said. "Budgets are always tight." Mariam Jukaku may be reached at mjukaku@starledger.com or (908) 302-1500. © 2008 The Star Ledger © 2008 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.
22 April 2008: President
Calls Attention to Shootings of 10 April 2008: NJ COP SHOT $10,000 Reward Irvington Detective’s Shooting 1st Case 01 April 2008: The pension problem - As stated to the readers of the Star Ledger by President Wieners 28 February 2008: All Members - To listen to President Wieners testimony on A770 which would give line of duty death benefits to those killed while on active duty with the Military - click here
Testimony of Anthony F. Wieners
“Supporting the Front Line in the Fight Against Crime: Restoring Federal
Funding
U.S.
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, Dirksen Senate Office
Building, Room 226 Good Afternoon Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Graham, and members of the Subcommittee. My name is Anthony Wieners and I am a Detective with the Belleville, (New Jersey) Police Department. I also serve as the President of the 33,000 member New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, and I am an Executive Board member of the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO). NAPO represents approximately 238,000 sworn law enforcement officers throughout the United States. for the full text - click here 29 February 2008: NJ COP SHOT Program 28 February 2008: MRSA Threat for Law Enforcement Employees 27 December 2007: Statement from PBA President on the Death of Officer Jerry Mahoney 27 December 2007:
PBA Sounds Alarm on Officers Killed in the Line of
Duty 05 December 2007: New Jersey State PBA 2007 Annual Holiday Toy Drive
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