Hammonton makes it official, they’re cutting four police officers from the city payrolls. The Atlantic City Press reports on who will lose their jobs:
Officers William Kurtz, Jason Rigby, Jonathon O’Neil and Robert Zbikowski will be laid off as of June 21 and lose their medical benefits June 30, Plotkin said.
No word on which town employees lost their jobs, but no doubt the names will be people many of us know.
According to this and other reports, Hammonton and the Police Union continue to negotiate to try to come to a conclusion. The Gazette reported this week that Town Council would like the negotiations to be broadcast on public television. This blogger can’t see what good would come of that. The best laid plans often come from heated, private deliberation. It saves face for both sides, and who wants to look in the chef’s kitchen before the meal is cooked anyway?
This is certainly sad news for all ten town employees, but its bad news for the Hammonton Police, the Town, and its residents. H-town is already four officers short, with no plan to fill those lost positions. Four more makes the force short eight able bodies. As far as Town employees, we’ve been running on a bare bones city-wide staff for some time now. But what do taxpayers expect? We’ve got a new Town Hall and the Canoe Club to pay for.
To tell you the truth, timing is on the side of Hammonton. After all, crime isn’t so bad. And the child molestor who tried to carjack the mom and child, the guy with the explosives and meth lab, and the hostage taker in the all night stand-off, all happened BEFORE these guys are getting laid off. Now that we got them our of the way, who needs the police?
