you are a brave man, leaving your name and everything. i have alot of respect for you. fact of the matter is that the private sector is getting hammered. reduction in wages, paying for healthcare, and who gets a pension anymore? hell, we may not even get social security. it is not a pretty picture. i have nothing against the police. i respect what they do. some of my friends are police officers. we simply cannot afford them any more. i do not blame them. i blame the government for allowing large corporations to do whatever they want. including the health insurance companies who are ripping off all of us. however, government officials will be reluctant to upset police officers because they need them to control the masses. maybe the federal government should take over the police departments. at least if there is not enough money to pay them they can simply print it. local, county, and state governments do not have that ability. something has to give sooner or later. you cannot take blood from a stone.

The Bergen County Keystone Kops are a duplication of other police forces. They act like a bunch of cowboys. Just look at what they did in Mahwah last May when they called out the SWAT team for a supposed domestic dispute. Both the wife and husband told everyone that everything was fine (the wife's sister called the police to try and get the husband in trouble). The Keystone Kops assaulted the condo with flash grenades and automatic weapons. It was a joke, but they just like to play with their toys. The same can be said about the bomb squad and the doggy division. The Keystone Kops executed a young black man in Garfield back in December. The cop who did it took over a week to fill out the after action report. He said he had to gun him down with 6 bullets because he was holding "tools". The Keystone Kops also had a dog with him. This department has to go and the savings given back to the taxpayers of Bergen County.

As far a being brave, why not? What, my opinion should result in my arrest? When are other people going to speak up? When are other people going to find out just how much money these Kops get for sitting on Rt. 4 and handing out speeding tickets, or setting checkpoints so they can cite contractors for some little violation? Brave, I don't think so. A pissed off taxpayer, yes.

other people are afraid. that is why things have gotten out of hand to begin with. arrested, probably not. retaliation, maybe. i respect you because you speak your mind and identify yourself. something alot of people on here will not do! in any event you know my name and we reside in the same town so perhaps will run into one another. the first step to changing the way things are is to not be afraid. i am not and neither are you. maybe we can find a few more like us and go and make a difference. make the world a better place for our children.

i stand corrected. we are not from the same town but from the same county, obviously.

The village idiot has spoken. How do you save more than the entire budget of the Bergen County Police. Just another example of EXTREME Right wing propaganda.

And Average Joe, one of the "brave" Keystone Kops who loves to hide behind stupid monikers can't even read the budget for 2012. Well here it is: http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/departments/CountyBudget2012.pdf

Now once you get by the salaries themselves, start adding in accumlated vacation days, pensions and other "benefits" that the Keystone accumulate.

But just so the Keystone Kop can understand it clearly, take a look at page 121 of the study that was done on shutting the whole damn department down. http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/bcresources/PDFs/Bergen%20Report%20Final%2005%2013%2011.pdf CASE CLOSED!

Rich is not brave, he hid at North Carolina State from 1970 to 1974. He is just a extremem right winger who hides behind his blogs and distorts the truth.

Just so you are aware Richie, the study outcome was changed. It was said at the Freeholder meetings and by Guidepost. In fact, the freeholders referred to it as a piece of garbage. I wonder what they are hiding.

Please refer to the link you have provided and look at sheet 16 (page 34 of 68). Look under the division of police (aka BCPD) the budget is $14.2 million, NOT $20 million. Once again you are a source of unreliable information. It is impossible to save $20 million unless you shut down the ENTIRE Department of public safety (medical examiners, oem, haz mat,...) I might have a stupid moniker but I can read just fine. Please keep your right wing extremist views and distortions of the truth to a minimum.

Average Joe hides behind a stupid moniker and which shows how brave he is. And what does he mean "hide" at North Carolina State? Would he care to explain? But in order to cut him short, I had a tumour in my heel bone and had to have it removed. When you don't have a complete heel bone, the military does not want you, even when you try to enlist.

As far as the consultant report, the one that Average Joe Keystone Kop now refers to is the one that Kathy Donovan had done by her cronies, including Freeholder DiNicola. So who should we believe, an independent consulting company that reviewed all aspects of the Keystone Kops department and returned a report that is over 120 pages long and can be read at the link provided, or a committee report, prepared by Donovan stooges and is not available for review? Think about it.

Hey Average Joe. It is obvious that you are one of the Keystone Kops since you are a dumb as a brick. The reference you cite is salary only. How about including retirement benefits, health benefits, accumulated sick and vacation days that the police, unlike everyone else in the workforce, are allowed to be paid for at the highest salary level when they retire. Also, how about operational expenses, capitial expenses, and support expenses? Oh, that's right, you don't understand anything about running a business or anything else.

Wrong information again Richie, On July 11, 2011 - The members of Guidepost (the $623,000 study) stated in a public forum that there were revisions made to the "independant" study. This was at a Freeholder work session in a public forum. Several freeholders then went back and forth about the study's reliability. Please look it up for yourself to find the truth, but I am warning you that you might find the information to be inconvienant to your right wing extremist views.

And Average Joe, since we know that you don't have a clue about running anything, except your mouth, take a look at page 78 of the study. This is how much was spent in 2010 on the Bergen County Keystone Kops: $21,977,659 CASE CLOSED!

Hey Average "Keystone Kop" Joe, why don't you tell everyone that the freeholders who called "questioned" the study were Hermansen and DiNicola, the two Donovan stooges. Once again, you lose.

Richie, Point of correction, AGAIN. It was Freeholder Ganz who questioned the integrity of the guidepost study, it was then Driscoll. Ganz said it was a piece of garbage that belonged in the trash (his words, not mine). Hermansen questioned it at another date. I know the truth is bothersome but find out for yourself, you won't be such an angry person. What you should be questioning is WHAT changes were made and Why changes were made. Maybe they are trying to hide the fact that the County Police is an efficient operating system.

I know why you dislike Hermansen, it is becuase he want an honest goverment and you just want to follow your political boss like a sheep. Just keep following blindly and spewing your extreme right wing views.
xoxo,
Average Joe

Hey Average "Coward Keystone Kop" Joe. Wrong once again. Donovan pushed all of the buttons on that Freeholder meeting. She then went out, formed her own "Review Committee" and proceeded to sue the Freeholders. Ganz voted to DISSOLVE the Bergen County Keystone Kops. http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2012/08/bergen_county_freeholders_vote_to_dissolve_the_county_police_inviting_political_legal_challenges.html

Once again you are WRONG! And we the taxpayers of Bergen County are getting raped paying your salary. And what do we get for it? A coward how hides behind a stupid moniker and a fool.

Legal notice -- there's been corruption to go around in both parties, but I don't think it applies to Republican Schuber or Democrat Fahy. (I don't know enough about Trella to have an opinion, but I certainly haven't heard anything untoward about him.)

Compare that to some of the bozos we've had as Sheriff: Joseph Ciccone, formerly a Fairview police Sgt. who became corrupt boss Joe Ferriero's man and who pleaded guilty to illegal fundraising and official misconduct; Jay Alpert, who just recently was fired from the Port Authority after his bogus law enforcement credentials came to light; and even Leo McGuire, the former Ridgefield Park police Sgt. who for way too long was way too close to Ferriero for my liking. (He belatedly saw the handwriting on the wall and finally called for Ferriero's resignation.)

Being Sheriff is an intensely political position that doesn't even require a law enforcement background -- not even a minimal rank. Common sense and a little bit of history strongly argue against putting more power in the hands of these pols.

To Jeff O: You think the other jobs are NOT political? Give me a break.. The chief of BCPD is APPOINTED by County Executive Donovan. Arent they related somehow? NOw thats politics. Also the prosecutor is APPOINTED by the ATTORNEY GENERAL/GOVERNOR. Prosecutors are VERY political in NJ. They should all be elected so we can get rid of them!!

Bigger question: Why do we have all this county government?? County Executive, Police?? Get rid of it all to bare min required jobs (NJ law requires prosecutor and sheriff nothing else).

Lots of duplication of service here. its a no brainer.

Donovan doesn't want to see the Bergen County Keystone Kops because who is going to cover up for her drug dealing son and chauffeur her around. The Keystone Kops pick her up in the morning and bring her home at night. And why when her 20 yearson was arrested for drug use, in her home, with two high school students he was not charged with endangering minors, selling them drugs and drug possession in a "drug free" school zone?

James, my understanding is that NJ County Sheriffs have only three functions expressly mandated by statute: running the county jail; providing courthouse security; and serving subpoenas, foreclosure notices and other such legal notices. All other functions have been instituted not by the state but the various sheriffs themselves. Whatever duplication of law enforcement functions can just as easily be eliminated at the Sheriff's Department as at the County Police Department.

Yes, the County Police Chief is appointed by the County Executive, and the Sheriff is nominated by his county party organization, which in the past has often meant the party boss. It has also meant he was dependent on and beholden to his campaign contributors and moneymen to get elected. I'm not saying an appointed Chief couldn't be subject to the political pressures of his appointing County Executive, but at least he only has to answer to one person. The Sheriff comes to office steeped in politics and remains in that cauldron throughout his tenure.

Gabriel did you read the report that cost the taxpayers mega bucks. Did you not get the message or are you still locked in your mansion in Mahwah or Franklin Lakes ?
Mitchell is the only Republican looking after the working class in Bergen County

Point of correction, Union County has a county police department that they are talking about shutting down. Also, Camden is on the verge of creating a county police department to patrol the City of Camden which is closing down their police department because of corruption. The thinking on this is that by having a county police department run outside of the city political system, they can stem the corruption. Since the state is funding Camden, it might make sense, but what would work better is to just have the State Police patrol the city.

"Deleted's" post was the most twisted and ignorant comment yet. Pat Schuber and Joel Trella are Republicans and certainly have nothing to do with Joe Ferriero. Neither does Democrat Jay Fahy, who served as County Prosecutor in the early nineties, long before Ferriero became Bergen County Democratic Organization chairman and brought such disgrace to my party at the county level.

Truth of the matter is, Ferriero and his cronies -- like Leo McGuire -- have wanted the Sheriff's Department to take over the County Police Department for years. It's called consolidation all right -- consolidation of political power.

Walter you are a brave man. Even though this is not Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union or Mao's (Red) China; the powers that be can still ruin your day. Remember that they have more far reaching technology than Hitler, Stalin or Mao could have imagined and they do not want anyone raining on their parade.

Rich is not brave, he hid at North Carolina State from 1970 to 1974. He just wants you to look at his extreme right wing blogs.

And you are nothing but an overpaid, underworked donut eater Average "Keystone Kop" Joe.

Gee Gabriel what brillant comment are you going to have next? Are you going to talk about "poop" or "doody". By the way, my wife and I have been married for 32 years. And the last time I heard, your wife was looking for any type of dick. She keeps mentioning the word "wee-wee" in reference to your equipment.