Jersey City, NJ, Mayor Steve Fulop’s pledge to end a program that allows officers to make extra cash working off-duty jobs is leading to howls of protest from the city’s police force.
The program is under fire thanks to a federal investigation that has led toĀ guilty pleas from 10 people, including a former police chief, Phil Zacche. More officers are expected to be ensnared in the probe, NJ.com reports.
“For too long the program has been abused with police officers more focused on off-duty work than on-duty work,” Fulop said in an email to The Jersey Journal. “The widespread corruption was known by countless officers within the department and the degree of abuse is astonishing.”
“Mayor Fulop has shared no plan with the union regarding the future off-duty jobs,”Ā Carmine Disbrow, president of the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association, said in a statement. “We’d much prefer to have this conversation with him face-to-face than through social media or the press. While we understand the need for change in the way assignments are distributed, we hope that he understands how critically important these jobs are to keeping Jersey City safe.”
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