Council Approves Police Accreditation Contract

The City Council unanimously approved hiring an Island Heights firm at $86,342 Thursday to help the Plainfield Police Division attain accreditation as a law enforcement agency.

The contract includes a $6,000 registration fee with the accrediting body, the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police; $47,000 for a one-year consulting fee with The Rodgers Group; $22,016 for the Rodgers Group Online Training Program; $2,826 for the Guardian Tracking LLC's software program fee and $8,500 to Innovative Data Solutions, Inc. for its Power DMS software fee. The last three are annual costs that will have to be factored into future budgets.

All costs will be paid out of a fund of more than $400,000 in forfeiture money and the drawdown was approved by the Union County Prosecutor's Office.

Former Police Director Martin Hellwig advocated the plan in December 2012, but by coincidence the Star-Ledger was publishing a series of articles about the troubled police department in Edison, which had been one of the company's clients. Its testimonial was among many on the group's web site.

On Thursday, Dr. Harold Yood questioned the efficacy of the accreditation process in light of Edison's reported dysfunction.

But Carl Riley, police director in the new administration of Mayor Adrian O. Mapp, vouched for the need to have the Plainfield Police Division accredited, "so we don't end up in the paper." Riley said the division's policies and procedures were out of date and the division "was going through some things now" that wouldn't have happened if policies were in place.

Yood also noted the accreditation will need to be renewed after three years, but Riley said the cost was not recurring and will be much less.

The $86,342 cost will not be paid by taxpayers. Riley said of the city's asset forfeiture account, "Nobody can tell us how to use it."

--Bernice

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