Tensions rise between Hackensack and police at meeting where cops are called 'the enemy'

HACKENSACK — Rising tensions between the city’s police officers and the leadership of the city and the department boiled over at a council meeting Tuesday night, as the groups offered starkly different views on the state of the department and its future.

Ray Guidetti, who was appointed police director in August 2022, spoke of the progress that’s been made and the work that still needs to be done to change a culture he described as “underpinned by fear and intimidation and favoritism.”

At one point during the meeting, Mayor John Labrosse referred to the officers as "the enemy" as they filed out of the meeting while Deputy Mayor Kathy Canestrino talked about the accomplishments made under Guidetti's leadership.

Members of the unions representing the city’s officers and police supervisors spoke during the meeting about plummeting morale, a lack of communication and ineffective leadership.

Both Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 9, the union representing the city's rank-and-file officers, and PBA Local 9A, the supervisors' union, recently voted to express no confidence in Guidetti and Capt. Michael Antista.

At the time, union representatives said they held the vote to get the attention of the mayor and City Council and open lines of communication.

Since Guidetti’s hiring, five lawsuits and numerous grievances have been filed against the director, claiming retaliation against those who have spoken out against him and alleging that he has abused his authority.

But shortly after the vote by PBA Local 9 in December, city officials announced they were extending Guidetti's contract by another year, to run through 2026, and in a statement they dismissed the officers' actions as an effort to return to “a broken status quo” that did not reflect the views of most people in the department.

“My goal is to open your eyes,” Frank Cavallo, the president of PBA Local 9, said Tuesday night. “Director Guidetti speaks to big changes to the operations of the Police Department. Unfortunately, the changes did not include the community or its leaders. The forward progress the director talks about must include the community or it will fail.”

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Guidetti was hired to reform the department after a report found widespread overtime abuse by ranking officers, a drop in arrests, low morale and a lack of accountability. A second audit similarly revealed overtime and extra-duty detail abuses by high-ranking officers.

Among the "troubling practices" the reports noted were splitting shifts, changing schedules to maximize the number of extra-duty details worked and "double-dipping" by overlapping shifts so officers were paid for working extra-duty details and their regular assignments at the same time.

Union leaders have called the reports misleading and one-sided and said the audit, which they say singled out the people it targeted, is more evidence of retaliation by department leaders against those who have spoken out.

A Bergen County Prosecutor's Office investigation into the allegations last year exonerated five supervisors, they said.

Officers said decisions such as the disbandment of the narcotics and juvenile bureaus were misguided and done without their input.

“There’s no engagement with police officers to see what they think,” Sgt. Sean Briggs said. “Is there a reluctance to acknowledge the insights of those on the front lines?”

When will a Hackensack police chief be hired?

The department has not had a chief in more than a decade and has instead cycled through three civilian directors and seven officers in charge, said Anthony DiPersia, the president of Local 9A.

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“Despite assurances from this governing body that each director was tasked with appointing the next chief, not one director has done this,” he said. “When director Guidetti was hired, he said he would find a chief. After 17 months, has he found that person?”

New Jersey PBA President Patrick Colligan said Hackensack officers deserve a “clear path” to seeing a chief eventually put in charge.

“Good morale cannot be ordered, it is earned,” he said. “This has gone on too long. The third time is not a charm. It’s time to get to work on getting a chief here in Hackensack.”

Guidetti responds

But Guidetti said what has taken place during his tenure shows that no matter who is put in charge, “they will be met with resistance if they choose to implement reform and demand command accountability."

“Those nameless and faceless people who operate in the shadows, who I call the ‘old guard,’ want things to remain as they were,” he said.

In private, many officers have expressed their support, but they fear retaliation if they speak out, he said.

Guidetti said he has been a target of intimidation. A wiretap was found in his office, and mail addressed to him was opened, read and shared. Security systems in the department were “suspiciously accessed,” with information “presumably shared,” he said.

“I’ve been followed on and off duty, forcing me to change my patterns of what cars I drive, where I park and where I frequent. I’ve received anonymous letters at home and all sorts of messages designed to intimidate my family and me,” he said. “I spent years investigating organized crime and never experienced this type of aggressive behavior.”

Hackensack officials speak out

City officials said they stand behind Guidetti and his reform efforts.

“I think by making these small changes the director has done, with Captain Antista, we are moving in the right direction,” said Canestrino, the deputy mayor.

Police officers walk out of meeting

As she began speaking of the issues raised in the report that led to Guidetti’s appointment, officers began filing out of the packed room.

“I think that walkout we just saw really confirmed some of what was reported in both audits," said Labrosse, the mayor. "There’s a problem. We know there’s a problem.” He added that he respected Guidetti and Antista for “getting up in front of what I would call 80 of the enemy.”

An officer on Thursday said they walked out because they will not tolerate being called criminals or double-dippers. He said union representatives plan to meet with city officials to try to resolve these differences.

Nick Bond, a city spokesman, said Wednesday that officials are committed to moving the department forward.

“The mayor and City Council remain confident in Police Director Guidetti's leadership as he addresses the systemic challenges that have held the department back from reaching its full potential," Bond said. "And we will not be bullied or intimidated away from taking on that challenge."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hackensack NJ police officers called 'enemy' at public meeting