City of Trenton, NJ Police Department

Within the Department of Police, in addition to the Police Director and the Chief of Administrative Services, there shall be the following ranks and number of positions per rank: (1) Captains: six to nine; (2) Lieutenants: 18 to 23; (3) Sergeants: 48 to 56; and (4) police officers: 280 to 340. The Department may also include such civilian employees as may, from time to time, be approved by the Director.

[Amended 9-7-2006 by Ord. No. 06-66; 12-6-2007 by Ord. No. 07-69]

The Department may also include such civilian employees as may, from time to time, be approved by the Director.

The Police Director is eligible to receive an annual stipend not to exceed $25,000 at the discretion of the Mayor. The stipend may be paid to the Police Director to compensate him/her for responsibilities related to public safety requirements of the City.

Chief of Administrative Services.

The salary range for the Chief of Administrative Services shall be as set by ordinance.

The Chief of Administrative Services is eligible to receive an annual stipend not to exceed $12,500 at the discretion of the Mayor. The stipend may be paid to the Chief of Administrative Services to compensate his/her responsibilities related to public safety requirements of the City.

Special law enforcement officers.

[Added 12-20-2018 by Ord. No. 18-72]

The City of Trenton authorizes the use of special law enforcement officers to assist the regular Police Department in the performance of its duties and responsibilities subject to the eligibility criteria and limitations set forth in the Special Law Enforcement Officers Act, N.J.S.A. 40A:14-146.10 et seq. No special law enforcement officers shall be appointed to any term exceeding one year.

No special law enforcement officer, by virtue of his/her appointment as such, shall be or become a regular member of the Police Department.

Special law enforcement officers are considered part-time employees and can be terminated for cause after adequate hearing, unless the appointment is for four months or less, in which event the appointment may be revoked without cause or hearing (N.J.S.A. 40A:14-146.14).

(c)

Every special law enforcement officer, while on duty, shall abide by all the rules and regulations of the Police Department and those policies, general order, or standard operating procedures established by the Police Director.

Qualifications. No person shall be appointed as a special law enforcement officer unless the person:

Is a resident of the State of New Jersey during his/her term of appointment. The residency requirement for City of Trenton employees set forth in § 2-95 shall not apply to Class III officers; however, there shall be a hiring preference in the following order: City of Trenton residents, residents of Mercer County and residents of the State of New Jersey;

Is able to read, write and speak the English language well and intelligently and has a high school diploma or its equivalent;

(c)

Is of sound body and of good health;

(d)

Is of good moral character;

(e)

Has not been convicted of any offense involving dishonesty or that which would make him/her unfit to serve as a special police officer; and

(f)

In accordance with the enabling legislation allowing for Class III officers, all applicants for the title must meet the following:

[1]

Precertification requirements.

Must be a retired police officer who has previously served as a duly qualified, fully trained, full-time officer in any municipality or county of this state, or as a member of the New Jersey State Police;

[b]

Must be retired from that agency in good standing (it is necessary to have a letter of good standing issued by the agency from which officer retired, listing the date and type of retirement);

[c]

Must be less than 65 years of age for appointment;

[d]

Must pass a psychological exam;

[e]

Must pass a medical exam and have a doctor complete the medical certification form;

[f]

Must pass a drug test pursuant to the Attorney General's Law Enforcement Drug Testing Policy; and

[g]

Must have an updated background investigation.

[2]

Any and all other requirements promulgated by the New Jersey Attorney General or by statute.

Duties; classification of special law enforcement officers. There shall be the following class of special police officers pursuant to law:

Class III. SLEO Class III (SLEO III) are authorized to exercise full powers and duties equivalent to those of a permanent, regularly appointed full-time police officer.

§ 2-57 Authority of Police Director.

Subject to the supervision of the Mayor, the Police Director shall be directly responsible for the efficient and routine day-to-day operations of the Police Department. The Police Director shall have the authority to:

Organize the Department subject to the table of organization set forth in § 2-56B above.

[Amended 9-2-2004 by Ord. No. 04-75]

Adopt and promulgate such policies as are necessary and appropriate for the divisions with the Department.

Adopt and promulgate rules and regulations for the government of the divisions under his/her supervision and for the discipline of their members.

Prescribe the duties and assignments of all subordinates and other personnel.

Adopt and promulgate standard operating procedures for the efficient operation of the Department.

§ 2-58 Responsibilities of Police Department.

Under the direction and supervision of the Police Director, the Department shall:

Preserve the public peace, prevent crime and detect and arrest offenders against the penal laws and ordinances effective within the City.

Administer and enforce laws and ordinances to regulate, direct, control and restrict the movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic and the use of the streets by vehicles and persons generally.

Remove all nuisances in the public streets, parks and other public places; inspect and observe all places of public amusement or assemblage and all places of business requiring any state or municipal license or permit and report thereon to the appropriate department.

Conduct a training program to maintain and improve efficiency of law enforcement officers, including members of the Division, and operate a Police Training Academy as approved by the New Jersey Police Training Commission for the purpose of providing a police training course in compliance with the Police Training Act, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-66 et seq.

§ 2-58.1 Division of Communications.

[Added 6-21-2007 by Ord. No. 07-48]

Within the Department there shall be a Division of Communications, the head of which shall be the Director, who shall serve under the direction and supervision of the Police Director. The Division shall plan and operate a comprehensive police, fire and medical emergency communications system in the City of Trenton.

§ 2-58.2 Employment of off-duty police officers.

[Added 6-17-2010 by Ord. No. 10-36; amended 5-19-2011 by Ord. No. 11-06]

General.

Employment of off-duty Trenton police officers for police-related activities shall only be permitted as set forth herein. For the purposes of this section, a Trenton police officer shall be deemed to be in the actual performance of his duties if the Trenton police officer is in uniform, or is exhibiting evidence of his authority, is performing public safety functions on behalf of and as assigned by the Police Director and is receiving compensation.

Regulations to be followed by police officers.

Members of the Police Department shall be permitted to accept police-related employment only during off-duty hours and only at such time as will not interfere with the efficient performance of regularly scheduled or emergency duty for the City of Trenton. The Police Director shall be responsible for the assignment of all off-duty police-related activities and the billing of all compensation due to the City. The Police Director shall develop regulations to insure that all officers are assigned off-duty employment in a nondiscriminatory manner on a rotating basis among the officers who have expressed interest in off-duty assignment.

Nothing in this section shall prohibit an officer from performing private security functions or activities for a private employer in compliance with the Security Officer Registration Act (N.J.S.A. 45:19A-1 et seq.).

Any person or entity wishing to employ off-duty police officers shall first obtain the approval of the Police Director which approval shall be granted if, in the opinion of the Police Director, such employment would not be inconsistent with the efficient functioning and good reputation of the Police Department, and would not reasonably endanger or threaten the safety of the officer or officers who are to perform the work. The Police Director shall memorialize any agreement made with an entity wishing to employ police officers so employed to insure compliance with this section.

Requests for services.

All requests to the City for services of off-duty police officers shall be forwarded to the Police Director for posting at least 10 days before such services are required. The Police Director may relax this time restriction in the event of an emergency. Any police officers, when so employed, shall be treated as an employee of the City; provided, however, that wages earned for outside employment shall not be applied toward the pension benefits of police officers so employed, nor shall hours worked for outside employment be considered in any way as compensable overtime.

Police officers shall not be able to institute legal proceedings against the City of Trenton for lost wages or disability retirement benefits in the event they are injured while working off-duty employment.

Insurance requirements.

No party or employer shall employ any off-duty City police officer in order to perform the services of security guard, traffic control officer or plain-clothes surveillance officer without having first filed with the City's Municipal Clerk a certificate of comprehensive general liability insurance in the amount of not less than $1,000,000 combined single limits for any one occurrence with respect to injuries and damages suffered or caused by City police officers while in the employ of the party or employer. Said certificate shall list the City, the City's Police Department and municipal officials, representatives and employees as additional parties insured.

No certificate of insurance required by this section shall be deemed filed with the Municipal Clerk unless the City's Municipal Attorney has first approved it.

Any and all policies of insurance evidenced by any certificate filed hereunder shall be maintained by the party or employer in full force and effect at all limes while any City police officer is employed by such party or employer. Upon the change or renewal of any such policy of insurance, the party or employer shall forthwith file with the Municipal Clerk a new and current certificate of insurance in compliance with the foregoing provisions.

(4)

In the event of an emergency, which results in the person or entity being precluded from complying with the requirements of this subsection, the Police Director shall have the authority to waive said insurance prerequisite prior to approving the use of off-duty officers for certain police-related employment.

(5)

In addition to the aforesaid requirements, the party or employer shall indemnify and hold harmless the City, the City's Police Department and the municipality's officials, representatives and employees, from and against any claim, liability, damage or expense that may arise out of or relate to the actions of:

Any City police officers employed by the party or employer, including any claims concerning the alleged negligence of the City's police officers; and

The party or employer, its employees, officers and representatives.

Escrow accounts.

Except as provided hereinbelow, any party or employer requesting the services of an off-duty City police officer shall estimate the number of hours such law enforcement services are required, which estimate shall be approved in writing by the Police Director and shall establish an escrow account with the Chief Financial Officer of the City by depositing an amount sufficient to cover the rates of compensation and administrative fees set forth in Subsection F hereinbelow for the total estimated hours of service.

If the amount required to be deposited with the City pursuant to Subsection D(1) hereinabove exceeds $20,000, an escrow deposit of $20,000 shall be required. Said $20,000 deposit shall be maintained until such time as the amount required to be deposited for all remaining services on any given project shall be less than $20,000, and then such lesser amount shall be required to be maintained.

Prior to posting any request for services of off-duty City police officers, the Police Director shall verify that the balance in the escrow account of the party or employer requesting services is sufficient to cover the compensation and fees for the number of hours specified in the request for services and that the insurance requirements under Subsection C have been met. The Police Director shall not post a request for services from any party or employer unless all fees and compensation required in the manner described above have been deposited with the City's Chief Financial Officer. No officer shall provide any such services for more hours than are specified in the request for services.

(4)

In the event the funds in such an escrow account should become depleted, services of off-duty police officers shall cease, and requests for further or future services shall not be performed or posted until additional funds have been deposited in the escrow account in the manner prescribed above.

(5)

The party or person requesting such services shall be responsible for ensuring that the sufficient funds remain in the escrow account in order to avoid any interruption of services.

(6)

Schools and government agencies shall be exempt from the requirements of the posting of an escrow deposit.

(7)

In the event of an emergency, which results in the person or entity being precluded from timely complying with the requirements of this subsection, the Police Director shall have the authority to waive the escrow account prerequisite and approve the use of off-duty officers for certain police-related employment. This waiver shall be limited to the escrow account/prepayment aspect of this subsection. The person or entity requesting the law enforcement services shall remain fully responsible for paying for same. In the event the person or entity requesting the off-duty police services fails to submit payment within 30 days of the approval of the use of the off-duty police officers, the City shall not be responsible for paying the subject officers for their off-duty services. The police officers will be limited in their remedies to pursuing payment from the person or entity that requested, and received, the services.

Rates of compensation; administrative fees; payment for services. Rates of compensation for contracting the services of off-duty City police officers shall take effect on January 1, 2011, and shall be as follows:

For all security and nonconstruction traffic control assignments, the rate shall be as follows:

Rate categories and descriptions.

[1]

Low-risk security: $30 per hour.

Security assignments that have a low probability of police involvement (example: high visibility for church events or small businesses).

[2]

Moderate-risk security: $35 per hour.

Security assignments that have an elevated risk of potential police involvement example: larger businesses with high public volume).

[3]

High-risk security: $40 per hour.

Security assignments that have a substantial risk of police involvement (example: locations that have a documented crime issue where officers are hired to address these issues through police actions).

Placement in a rate category shall also be determined by overall police activity at the location.

(c)

The Police Director or designee shall determine which security rate applies for the person or entity wishing to employ off-duty police officers.

For all exterior security at licensed liquor establishments, the rate shall be $55 per hour.