How the Police Bank Millions Through Their Union Contracts
The public funds six-figure “sick day” payouts, $2,500 “perfect attendance” bonuses and lucrative “extra duty” assignments identified in a ProPublica, Asbury Park Press analysis of New Jersey police union contracts.
Feb. 8, 5 a.m. EST
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This story was co-published with the Asbury Park Press, a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.
One town’s police contract guaranteed a retiring lieutenant $121,000 for unused sick time. Another’s promises officers six months pay with no work required as a parting retirement benefit. In another contract, cops get paid $109 an hour for side gigs like monitoring traffic at construction sites.
JCPD commemorates 15-year death anniversary of Christmas night tragedy
Updated Dec 27, 2020;
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JERSEY CITY On Dec. 25, 2005, a foggy, rainy night, Jersey City Officers Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen delivered emergency flares to colleagues on the Lincoln Highway Bridge to stop traffic because the bridge’s crash gates were damaged by a truck and inoperable.
As the two finished handing out the flares and drove towards Jersey City, their truck drove off the road and plunged 45 feet into the 40-degree Hackensack River beneath them.
The bridge’s safety bar and warning lights failed to activate when the lift-bridge opened for a tugboat to pass.