AG: State won’t hire troopers without federal money
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
BY CHRIS MEGERIAN AND JOHN REITMEYER
STATEHOUSE BUREAU / www.nj.com
The New Jersey State Police won’t hire 150 new troopers in the coming budget year if federal funding isn’t secured, Attorney General Anne Milgram told the Assembly Budget Committee yesterday.
Postponing the class would save $3.5 million in state training dollars, Milgram said. However, the state has applied for a $45.8 million grant under the federal COPS Hiring Recovery Program that would cover their salaries for three years. The state would have to find money to train them, she said.
Although 106 recruits are set to graduate in June, State Troopers Fraternal Association President David Jones is worried there aren’t enough new hires to stem attrition.
Nearly 1,000 troopers hired in the 1980s are becoming eligible for retirement, he said.
“As these people start to retire, we’re not going to be able to make up the difference,” Jones added.
The State Police have just under 3,000 troopers, with about 125 leaving the force ever year.
Milgram said if they don’t receive federal funding, she will push to recruit new troopers at the be ginning of the fiscal year beginning July 2010.
The entire Department of Law and Public Safety has tightened its budget, shedding 18 percent of its lawyers and 25 percent of its investigators in the past two years.
