COUNTY POLICE

COUNTY POLICE FADE AWAY
UNDER SHERIFF'S WATCH

Audio Tape Confirms Fontoura Too Weak to
Fight Administration for Public Safety

(Cedar Grove, NJ) -- On Oct. 2, the 111-year-old Essex County Police, protectors of county parks and roads, will be disbanded. Its policemen will become regular officers of the Sheriff's Department. After he repeatedly broke contract rules because of lack of manpower, Armando Fontoura decided to bust up the County Police union rather than fight the administration for new hires. While Fontoura claims the disbanding is for efficiency, in reality it illustrates the weakness of a sheriff unable to stand up to friends in his own political party. When Jim Treffinger tried to snatch $4.8 million from the Sheriff's budget in 2000, Fontoura pulled out all the stops to oppose him with a public uproar. This year, however, Fontoura let $3.5 million slip out of his department without making a peep against Executive Joe DiVincenzo, his former campaign manager. In a recently released audio recording Fontoura admits he is helpless to stop public safety funds from draining away.

"If you don't have five votes on a freeholder board you can't fight the administration," said Fontoura in the audio tape, recorded during a meeting with County Police officers and sent out by a member of the force. "The administration is very good at going there, before I can get to there and get...the vote that they need. You know. So, they have more things to trade with than I do. I don't have anything to trade with other than PBA cards, which, you know, that's about it. Most of the--all the guys here are civil service so I can't even offer anybody a job for their son or their daughter, which I wouldn't do anyway. It's hard for me to bargain. Very frustrating."

MAN DEAD ON COUNTY ROAD

County Sheriff Disbanding County Police
While County Properties Still Unprotected

(Newark, NJ) -- An East Orange man was found this week lying on South Orange Avenue with several gunshot wounds in his torso. He was found in the early morning just two blocks away from Vailsburg Park, a county park that should be under the protection of the County Sheriff. Detective Rich Mastrangelo, candidate for Essex Sheriff, today questioned Armando Fontoura's upcoming dissolution of the County Police, the very force charged with watching over the parks.

"It is a shame to lose the County Police. It is sad to see such a proud name and history come to an end. But more troubling than the loss of tradition is the loss of protection. Armando Fontoura claims the change will let him put more sheriff's officers in the parks. But the number of officers under his watch is not increasing--in fact it will decrease as former County patrolmen leave. His manpower problems remain, including the lack of enough officers for court security. Already Fontoura is using Bureau of Narcotics and Warrants officers for court duty to make up for the shortfall. He is more likely to pull the new 'Sheriff's Patrolmen' into the courts than to put more officers into the parks."

SUMMER VIOLENCE DEMANDS ACTIVE SHERIFF

County Parks and Roads are Frontlines
in Fight Against Gun Violence;
County Police Must Increase Patrols

(Newark, NJ) -- A young man in Orange is gunned down randomly in the street. Another taxi driver in Newark is found shot in his cab. In Irvington another young man is shot in the head. In Newark, three men die in three attacks in one weekend--and the next weekend there are three more. Responding to the heavy summer violence, Detective Rich Mastrangelo today again stressed the need for more County Police presence in the key areas of Essex County parks and roads.

"The man stabbed to death collapsed at North Munn Avenue near Vailsburg Park. That's a county park. Another victim, shot in his car, was just two blocks from Stuyvesant Avenue. That's a county road. Those areas should be under watch by the County Sheriff as head of the County Police," said Mastrangelo.

"Mayor Booker knows how critical the county areas are to Newark's public safety," continued Mastrangelo, candidate for Essex County Sheriff. . . .

SHERIFF CANDIDATE MASTRANGELO:
COUNTY POLICE NEED NEW LEADER
IN EFFORT AGAINST VIOLENCE AND GANGS

At County Park in Deadly Area
of Newark, Vows to Be Active Sheriff

(Newark, NJ) -- Going to Essex County's West Side Park on Thursday, Detective Rich Mastrangelo called attention to the runaway problem of violent crime in and around County Parks and Roads. Those areas are under the watch of the County Sheriff as head of the County Police.

"West Side Park, so near to the Irvington/Newark border, is right in the middle of one of Newark's deadliest areas," said Mastrangelo. According to a Star-Ledger analysis, which plotted on a map all the murders in Essex County from 1998-2003, the West Side neighborhood had a dense concentration of homicides. "This County Park area should have a constant presence from the County Police."

"Mayor Booker chose this spot to announce his Safe Summer Initiative against gang violence. I applaud his plans to bring all law enforcement agencies together to bring discipline back to our streets. But in order to help the Mayor bring discipline to our streets, accountability must be brought to our Sheriff!"