NJ attorney general extends ousted Paterson police chief Ribeiro’s assignment in Trenton

PATERSON — Attorney General Matthew Platkin has decided that ousted Paterson Police Chief Engelbert Ribeiro will spend another six months working at a state law enforcement training commission in Trenton.

Platkin last week signed off on the extension of Ribeiro’s reassignment, a transfer that the former chief’s supporters describe as an exile.

State officials declined to comment on Ribeiro’s extended assignment in Trenton. The city has continued to pay Ribeiro’s salary, which is now $222,000.

Paterson officials object to extension

Paterson’s law director, Aymen Aboushi, sent state officials a letter last week objecting to the decision to keep Ribeiro at the Trenton training commission for another six months.

“This action was taken without notice to the City, and without its consent,” Aboushi wrote.

Ribeiro, who is popular among rank-and-file city cops, was formally appointed chief just 24 days before the Attorney General's Office seized control of the Police Department in March. He had been acting chief for six months before that. As part of the state intervention in the problem-plagued department, Ribeiro was relieved of his duties as chief.

Ribeiro, Mayor Andre Sayegh and civilian police official Mark Bulur have filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify the attorney general's takeover and to restore Ribeiro as chief.

Ribeiro said in the court document that on the morning of the takeover, he arrived at his office and found Platkin and Maj. Frederick Fife of the New Jersey State Police waiting for him. Platkin told Ribeiro to leave his office, the ousted chief said. Later in the day, he said, he was allowed to get his personal belongings from his office.

Fife asked him several times whether he would retire because of the state takeover, Ribeiro said. A month later, Ribeiro said, he was not allowed to attend a swearing-in ceremony for the Police Department’s new recruits and his name was purposefully left off the graduation pamphlet.

In late April, Ribeiro said, he was told he would be assigned to the state police training academy in Sea Girt. Instead, he was sent to the training commission in Trenton in May.

State-appointed law enforcement officials refused to meet with Ribeiro about his reassignment, he said.

In seizing control of the Police Department, Platkin in March said there were “a number of events and concerns” that caused “a crisis in confidence in law enforcement in the city of Paterson.” Neither Platkin nor other state officials cited any misdeeds or mistakes by Ribeiro.

Sayegh has said he plans to restore Ribeiro to the chief’s office when the state intervention ends. The mayor did not comment on Platkin’s decision to extend Ribeiro’s assignment in Trenton.

Earlier: NJ appeals court rules there's no emergency in lawsuit over Paterson police takeover

Growing rifts between Sayegh and Trenton officials

The state intervention has caused a growing rift between Sayegh and Platkin. The attorney general has cited a reduction in violent crime in Paterson during the state takeover, but the mayor last month cited an October spike in homicides, saying residents don’t feel any safer with Platkin in charge.

The split also seems to be affecting Sayegh’s ties with Gov. Phil Murphy, once an ally who affectionately would call the mayor “Andre the Giant.”

Murphy, Platkin and Paterson’s legislative contingent last week gathered at Paterson police headquarters to celebrate the efforts of three detectives whose work led to the arrests of three homicide suspects.

The visit took place while Sayegh was in Atlantic City for the League of Municipalities convention. Political insiders said it was the first time they could recall Murphy holding a public event in Paterson without having Sayegh at his side.

Sayegh’s administration has called into question the legitimacy of the so-called agreement that formalized Ribeiro’s reassignment to the training commission. Sayegh’s law director has noted in a protest letter to the state that even though the document purports to be an agreement between the Attorney General's Office and the city, both parties signing the pact are state employees.

“It is the State’s attempt to enter into a contract with itself,” Aboushi wrote.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bert Ribeiro, ousted Paterson police chief, sees reassignment extended