Cammarano Again Calls for Police Lay-offs to be Rescinded; Joins 16 Officers Facing Termination at News Conference
(Hoboken, N.J.) -- Joined by 15 of the 16 Hoboken police officers who are scheduled to be terminated on June 20, Peter Cammarano repeated his demand that the lay-off plan be terminated or at least delayed.
Hoboken PBA President Vincent Lombardi sharply criticized Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer for supporting the police lay-offs and thanked Cammarano for standing up for the officers and their families. "Dawn Zimmer's support for these lay-offs is a direct threat to the safety and well-being of Hoboken residents," Lombardi said. "She has no understanding of the challenges that police officers face in protecting the public every single day. "
Lombardi also brought a photograph of the sixteenth officer, Josue Velez, an Army reserve soldier who was just activated and will be deployed to the Middle East. Officer Velez earned several Valor Awards for his courageous arrest of a gun-wielding suspect in a city park last year while he was off duty.
Cammarano said Zimmer's support for the lay-offs shows that his opponent has, "the wrong priorities for Hoboken," and said that firing the 16 police officers is completely unacceptable. He called on the state monitor to at least delay the lay-offs until after the Fourth of July, when an estimated 35,000 visitors are expected to be in Hoboken to watch the fireworks display on the Hudson River.
"I am respectfully asking the State Monitor to at the very least postpone these lay-offs for at least thirty days," said Cammarano. "We have no idea what kind of public safety situations will be created by this throng of people who will be coming to our city."
Cammarano said that laying-off police should be a last resort for any city, especially Hoboken. "We stand here across the river from Manhattan, remembering what happened on 9-11, knowing that Hoboken is a thriving urban center and realizing that protecting our families is the most important job of city government," he added. "I am determined to cut spending and reduce taxes, but not by sacrificing these 16 police officers or the safety of the public. That is a very significant difference between me and my opponent." ◦
