The Jersey City Council unanimously approved (9-0) a 50 percent pay bump for off-duty police details at Wednesday evening’s meeting.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
According to the local legislation, officers will now be paid $75/hour for off-duty work during the week, $90/hour for off-duty work on weekends, and time-and-a-half for any job that goes over eight hours.
“They’re paid pretty much the lowest in the area and this is a good way to make sure we’re level with the surrounding municipalities, I do like the carve out for the nonprofits and also the CPI for the hourly rate for the police officers,” said Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh.
Beginning on January 1st, 2024, the rates for off-duty police officers, traffic officers, and crossing guards shall be increased by 50 percent of the percent change of the Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period between January 2023 and January 2024.
“I vote aye, agree with what my colleague just said, particularly that the rates were the lowest in the county, or one of the lowest, so this puts them right in the middle, so with that, I vote aye,” added Ward E Councilman James Solomon.
The ordinance also establishes an “Off-Duty Trust Account” for receipt of fees collected for odd-duty work and will be managed by an off-duty billing coordinator.
Councilwoman-at-Large Amy DeGise commended the administration for working with the unions on this matter and to monitor what is budgeted for overtime, as well as to consider overtime for the fire department and Department of Public Works.
“This right here: it’s about time, you guys deserve it 100 percent. I’m very proud of you guys, I vote aye,” stated Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera.
About five-and-a-half years ago, the city halted their off-duty program, which was valued at $16 million at the time, after a federal corruption probe ultimately saw 12 officers admit to off-duty detail fraud.
Three years ago, the city council introduced a new plan for off-duty police details at construction sites, eight months after a different plan was denounced by one of the police unions.
At a fundraiser for his Democratic bid for governor at Surf City last night, Mayor Steven Fulop provided some color on how the city assessed this situation and came to this outcome.
“I think over the last 10 years, I’ve tried to be fair and responsible with how we treat our police officers and firefighters, all public safety, be fair with promotions and hiring, we’ve probably done more than most, also be fair with discipline, we’ve also done more on that front as well,” he began.
“The off-duty program was totally sideways when we took it over, we cancelled it, took some blows for that, but it was totally misused and taken advantage of. We restructured it with a lot of new oversight and we feel comfortable that there’s not a possibility to do what used to be done.”
Similar to Saleh and Solomon, he also noted that with the off-duty pay scale not in line with the surrounding communities, it was difficult to get officers to work the details.
“Huge THANK YOU to Mayor Fulop and the City Council for unanimously voting to increase the police off-duty jobs rate last night. @stevenfulopjc @jerseycitynj,” the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association wrote on Instagram yesterday.
Well Deserved. We have the Greatest Police Dept in New Jersey. It’s not easy to have someone who doesn’t know traffic rules guide you thru this terrible traffic due construction problem we share in Jersey City. Let the ones that know do the right work.