Photo by Alexis Tarrazi

By Alexis Tarrazi / Senior Reporter

NORTH ARLINGTON (Nov. 19, 2009) — Decked out in their dress blues, six North Arlington police officers were promoted at the Nov. 12 meeting of the mayor and council.

“I thought these guys have been good workers and they have been looking for promotions for the last five or six years and we couldn’t do it,” Councilman Joseph Bianchi said. “I think they deserve their promotions.”

Stephen Chelstowski and John Hearn were both promoted from lieutenant to captain, while Patrolman Joseph Cappelluti, Detective John Cangelosi, Detective Joseph Prinzo and Patrolman Robert Reilly were all promoted to sergeant.

The council voted unanimously for the promotions, with the exception of Councilman Richard Hughes, who was absent.

A number of reasons led to the decision to promote the officers, including anticipated retirements in the department, a lack of high-ranking officers and a looming deadline when promotion tests would expire.

“It is not a question of being happy with the promotions, it’s a question of doing what is necessary to improve the command structure of the department and saving money for the taxpayers,” stated Steve Tanelli, councilman and police liaison, in an e-mail to The Leader. “These changes allowed us to backfill positions that were vacant or will soon be vacated in the coming year due to retirements.”

Currently, the department has a total of 31 police officers (one is on terminal leave), which breaks down to: one chief,  two captains, three lieutenants, nine sergeants and 15 patrolmen/detectives.

“It is possible the borough could lose 11 officers by January 2011 — but we don’t know until they submit their retirement papers,” Thom Ammirato, borough spokesman, said.

Before the promotions, Ammirato said the department did not have any captains and was lacking in the number of sergeants.

“You have at least one sergeant on duty at all time,” Ammirato said. “If we only have two sergeants and three work cycles, then you have to pay overtime. We needed to cut down on overtime.”

Bianchi also noted that these officers were already working in the higher positions and weren’t getting any extra pay. Additionally, he went on to say that the officers had taken the promotions test and it was set to expire. If the officers weren’t promoted they would have to retake the test.

The raises will not take effect until 2011. The number of years served in the department will determine the pay scale increase for each officer.

“By reaching an agreement with the police officers to defer pay increases for one year, the borough council can fulfill its terminal-leave obligations to the retiring officers as required under the collective-bargaining agreement — without increasing costs to the taxpayers,” Tanelli stated. “The important thing is that we will have a more efficient police department at no expense to the taxpayers.”

Mayor Peter Massa and Council President Albert Granell declined to comment.