Hackensack police supervisors' union votes no confidence in Police Director Ray Guidetti

HACKENSACK — Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 9A, the supervisory officers' association for the city, voted Monday to express no confidence in the department’s leadership.

Union leaders said the vote of no confidence in Police Director Ray Guidetti and Operations Capt. Michael Antista reflected deep concerns about the state of the department.

Since Guidetti was appointed in August 2022, five lawsuits and numerous grievances have been filed by officers against the director and the city, claiming retaliation against those who have spoken out against him, and alleging that the director has abused his authority and has repeatedly overstepped the bounds of his civilian position.

Over the last 15 years the department has been plagued by turmoil, infighting and controversy. Hackensack has not had a chief in over a decade, since former Chief Ken Zisa left after being charged with fraud and official misconduct.

When Guidetti came to Hackensack, he pledged to reform the troubled department and has since made significant changes to its operations, use of technology and overtime scheduling.

In a statement, PBA leaders said the reluctance of city officials to appoint a chief and “the continued politicization of our department have significantly impacted the morale and effectiveness of the police department.”

“These actions not only affect those serving in the department but also undermine the safety and trust of the Hackensack community we are sworn to protect,” they said.

Anthony DiPersia, the president of PBA 9A, said that before Guidetti was hired, he was able to raise issues with the city manager and work to resolve them. Now officers have to resort to grievances and litigation, he said.

“Prior we had some communication with the city. Now there is no communication,” DiPersia said. “The majority of police officers are not happy, and they fail to even look into it. They don’t want to hear the truth. They don’t want to know their employees, their officers, are miserable. I once again ask that the city poll its employees to see their satisfaction of Guidetti’s performance.”

Guidetti was named director on the recommendation of a 2022 report by Robert Anzilotti, the retired Bergen County Prosecutor's Office chief of detectives, after a review of the department. The damning report accused the department’s ranking officers of abusing overtime instead of focusing on making arrests.

But the PBA in its statement said the report and another audit of the department's overtime, compensatory time and extra-duty details, released in September, are “misleading assessments” by outside consultants, “which we believe are not in the best interest of the community or the officers.”

“These no-bid contracts resulted in assessments which do not accurately reflect the challenges and needs of our police force,” they said. “Our commitment to protect and serve remains steadfast, but we need a leadership structure that supports effective policing and fosters trust both within the department and with the community we serve.”

Nick Bond, a city spokesman, called the vote a "token, meaningless gesture that reflects a desperate effort to return a broken status quo" and that it will not deter the city from taking "the necessary steps" to restore public confidence in the Police Department.

He said city officials do not believe that the vote "reflects the honest views of the majority of the department who are crying out for reform and strong leadership" and instead was "coerced by intimidation tactics" by a small number of people with litigation against the city. "The union leaders that engineered this vote represent only a small minority of ranking officers who want to return to discredited practices that served to maximize their already considerable compensation, even if that might be to the detriment of the city’s public safety efforts, and as were exposed in multiple audits that have previously been provided to the press and to the public," Bond said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hackensack police supervisors union votes no confidence in leadership