Middletown PBA takes negotiations to facebook
A rant against Mayor Stephanie Murray and the rest of the Middletown Township Committee was posted anonymously on the business facebook page of the Middletown Township PBA Local 124 yesterday afternoon.
Written by “I am a police officer in Middletown Township,” the post alleges that Murray and the Township Committee are not paying police officers salaries and claims that officers are subjected to sub-standard working conditions. The anonymous officer claims that the Township Committee gave themselves a 20% raise:
They thank us by refusing to pay officers salaries but have no issues giving themselves 20% raises outside the 2% cap police officers are held to by the state legislature
We drive patrol vehicles that have well over 100k miles on them. We dress in a locker room that will flood with the smallest rain storm. We have roll call in a room that is smeared with dirt, broken windows, and lights that house more dead bugs then light itself. Our cars are filled with equipment that is broken, missing or never made available.
The post was “boosted” as a paid facebook advertisement and generated 718 “likes” and 380 “shares” as of 10 p.m. on Friday evening. It was removed from the PBA’s page on Thursday evening, but still shows up in “newsfeeds” of facebook users who follow the union. You can access the entire post by clicking on the screen grab of it which indicates it was sponsored.
Murray brushed off the attack which she called “puzzling” in a phone interview with MMM. She declined to discuss specifics of the ongoing negotiations with the PBA and the Superior Officers Association, saying that to do so would be “unprofessional and a violation of fair labor practices.”
Murray said that all officers salaries are being paid and that health benefits are not at risk. She said the Middletown Township Committee has not gotten a raise since 1982, when she was 7 years old.
“Certain members of the PBA, not all, are trying to leverage the great news of Middletown’s historically low crime rate and take advantage of the taxpayers,” Murray said. “I honor our police officers and the job they do. I don’t believe the sentiment expressed in the anonymous post represents the majority view of the PBA members.”
The contracts of the Middletown PBA and the Superior Officers Association expired at the end of last year. Under the terms of the expired contracts, the members of both the PBA and SOA unions earn an average of over $100,000 per year.
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let’s see, $100,000 and more to be a police officer in Middletown????? Where do I sign up? These guys make more than most of the people who pay their salaries. If anyone wonders why property taxes are so high, look no further than greedy union members like this.
above is right. on top of that, the officers and their family members are never harassed and ticketed by other police officers like the rest of the public. officers demand your respect, even when they have not earned any respect, and will further harass you if you failto acknowledge thier alleged greatness. they call themselves heros simply for doing the job they signed up to do, imagine the minimum wage cashier at Starbucks getting a parade thrown for having the mayors morning coffee right 3 days in a row. beyond all of that, police officer is NJs suburban areas dont even fight crime like they pretend. drug addiction and the associated dealing is ignored. known gang members run the streets while the middletown police hide thier cars in bushes to ticket peaceful homeowners. its no wonder that people of the community refuse to cooperate with the police and if the middletown mayor had any guts, the township would not agree to any more union contracts with these people, terminate every officer and hire people to be police who will finally serve and protect, not harass and ticket.
Could someone tell me why the town council is even considering giving raises? I haven’t gotten a raise in years and wages are flat across the country. Why do the cops feel they are entitled to a raise when no one else is getting one?
The unions are out of touch with the real world. I vote for freezing all wages until the economy improves. They can squeak by on their already rich salaries.
Haters. You should have went to the police academy. You couldn’t pay me enough money to tell a parent their child is dead. Obey, they laws and you won’t have a problem.
@ madeulook – translation anyone?
Agreed! We have quite a few haters and jealous mongers who wish they took a different career path in life.
Would you put your life on the line for a million dollars??? A cop does it for a lot less!
@@madeulook
That is their job. They know that going in. They should be well paid for it, which they clearly are. That doesn’t mean that the taxpayers have endless money to lavish on them. And let’s keep it real here – this is Middletown, not Camden. These cops lives are more threatened by high cholesterol from Dunkin donuts than violent criminals.
OK, let’s get this straight.
The “individual” writing this tells a bald-faced lie about a 20% pay raise for the township committe. The truth is that they have not had a pay raise in years.
If you can’t tell the simple truth, why would anyone believe anything else you say?
Liar, liar … pants on fire!
It’s not just cholesterol is a problem for police hanging out at the local Dunkin’ Donuts; it’s also the boredom from their parking (“cooping”) between the bank and Rite Aid – all while keeping their car engines on wasting gasoline (isn’t that illegal for the rest of us?).
It’s time to abolish local police departments and consolidate into the county sheriff’s department. Watch your local property taxes go way down!
Son’s preschool teacher used to say to the kids when they started whining: ” gimme, gimme, gimme. I want I want I want…”
The writer of this post wants more money, a new car, fancy new dressing rooms and on and on. Can anyone tell this genius that we are not made of money? I hope the township committee doesn’t give in to this insanity.
And the previous poster may be on to something. Why not get rid of the local police department and go to county policing?
Now that’s an idea worth looking into.
@madeulook and madeulook
I haven’t seen many firefights here in Middletown between the police and the “bad” guys. The salary structure for police in a relatively “good” community seems to be way out of line.
There are many Middletowners who are “volunteers” – fire fighters, first aid members – who put their lives on the line for a lot less than what police officers are paid – actually for zero, nothing, nada. If not a pay freeze and other givebacks, perhaps a county wide police force is worth looking into.
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As someone who was involved in local government for years in Ocean County I can tell you that cops used to love going to arbitration because the town used to always get killed. Now because of the governor’s two percent cap they know that the arbitrators cant give them the moon anymore.
The person who wrote that facebook post should thank God he or she has such a good job. As a taxpayer I’m embarassed at the awful grammar and outright lies that were put out there publicly.
I applaud the mayor and council for standing up for the taxpayers. Don’t give in to these union bullies the taxpayers are behind you.
We can end this insanity simply by consolidating the police services into a county-wide operation which will bring costs down by providing a more efficient and cost effective service. How many police chiefs are there in all of Monmouth County and at what cost in pay and benefits? A municipality, like Middletown, which is a bedroom community without a huge commercial infrastructure, would see the local property taxes go down.
No more lies from the police union members – if this writer was a policeman, we obviously can’t believe anything they say – which should be very worrisome for all residents.
Art – since the police officer who is being paid by my tax dollars has been exposed as a liar, is there anyway that you can give us the information on exactly what a Middletown police officer is paid including salary, health benefits, pension and anything else? The restbof us slobs who have to go to work to pay their salaries just don’t have the time to research this stuff. Thanks and thank you for shining a light on this overpaid liar.
Don’t worry the Mayor is going to get her $7 million+ brand new town hall. Freeze all other expenditures as long as she can put her name on something and say “look what I did.”
During her tenure she’s also been shorting the volunteers
now, let me ask you this. you all are for going to a county wide policing program. let me ask you this, how many of you live on a monmouth ave? there are 5 monmouth’s in middletown alone. if your loved one stops breathing and your doing cpr to save their life, do you want a county police agency sending a county sheriff, who comes from out of the area and knows little to no geographic layout of town? how about if the ambulance coming to save your life gets sent to the wrong monmouth ave? your in the “junction” in front of 711 and are having a heart attack? guess what, monmouth junction is on their way because county wide policing agency doesnt know the junction means campbells junction for people around here. for what youll save, youll surrender 10x more in life safety.
@ john Q – if the cops are complaining about their dressing room, isn’t a new town hall what they want? And how exactly do you “short” a volunteer?
As for the big D, your worries are completely unfounded. With GPS and other technology, those problems disappear. I for one, would like the town to look into a county police force. You would eliminate the growing cost and constant complaining from the local PBA and save us taxpayers a boatload of money. Everything I’ve heard about it from other places has been positive. Just think of how happy it would make the Middletown officers if they didn’t have to work in such a terrible place anymore.