Atlantic City police promotions raise questions

Atlantic City’s recent promotion of two dozen officers to sergeant has raised questions about how the decision was made — and why it seems to have skipped over city residents and military veterans. While Mayor Marty Small had heralded the group as being “filled with Atlantic City residents,” just four out of the 24 promoted live in Atlantic City, lifelong resident and city Police Officer Al Herbert said Friday, as he addressed City Council. “I go to sleep in the same neighborhood that I police,” said Herbert, a Neighborhood Coordination Officer who polices the Chelsea Heights area, where he has lived his whole life. “We talk about Atlantic City first, but when it comes up to help Atlantic City people first, it (doesn’t) happen,” Councilman George Tibbitt said. “They need to go to the top of the list, they’re the guys that are here 24 hours a day, policing, talking to our kids, gaining the trust of our kids." The city code is clear that being a resident is supposed to be a qualitative advantage, City Councilman Jesse Kurtz said. But he is still waiting for the state to answer an inquiry he made in February — after just one of seven new lieutenants were residents — about its view on how residency weighs in on promotions. “We have no way of knowing because they have this whole secretive process,” he said. “The state is making acting promotions with no clear process and they feel it is superior,” PBA President Matt Rogers told BreakingAC. The Municipal Stabilization and Recovery Act that gave the state power has also bid a farewell to the Civil Service requirements that were previously used to create a promotions list. As a result, some of those promoted have not even taken the Civil Service test. Sources tell BreakingAC that in some cases, those in the new sergeants class failed the test.Some aren’t even residents of Atlantic County, Tibbitt said at Friday’s meeting. Because there is pending litigation concerning the issue, both Mayor Marty Small and Police Chief Henry White said they couldn’t comment on the issue. But Small did note that this class included “Atlantic City natives” and a diversity that he said wasn’t there in previous promotions. Kurtz said he believes litigation sometimes is used as an excuse not to pursue an answer. Six of those promoted are members of the PBA’s Executive Board. That is “just another reason we need civil service,” Rogers said when asked if he thought those members were given preference due to the union’s lawsuit. “A transparent list and testing process eliminates all of these questions,” he said. “If I knew who was even making these promotions, I could understand better how they’ve decided these moves.” More than 100 officers were interviewed for the recent promotions, officials said at the ceremony last. A five-person panel made the decisions.White told BreakingAC he was the only member of the department on that panel, but declined to name the others. The remaining four were the state fiscal monitor, the city business administrator’s designee, a representative of the city’s human resources department, and a representative of the city solicitor’s office, Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said. Tibbitt — also a Chelsea Heights resident — said he has known Officer Herbert’s family for a long time. The officer’s father, a retired Atlantic City deputy fire chief, came to him about the promotions issue. “He wasn’t asking for a favor,” Tibbitt said. “He was asking that his son didn’t be cheated.” Council President Aaron “Sporty” Randolph said the issue already was being discussed behind the scenes. “But on the dais is not the place to do it,” he said. “Where we need to do it is with them in their presence.” More promotions are scheduled for later this month, when the union and state are also due back before Judge Julio Mendez.