Police force hires 18

City promotes female to captain for first time ever
12/22/2002 Hoboken Reporter 
 
To the cheers and tears of supportive family and friends, the city welcomed 18 new police officers to the job Thursday. The large-scale police hiring and reorganization of the force is the culmination of months of negotiations between Mayor David Roberts and Police Chief Carmen LaBruno to replenish the force's dwindling numbers.

While the relations between the two have been tense in the past, both men had nothing but praise for each other Thursday as they swore in the city's next generation of officers.

After the ceremony, LaBruno issued a statement thanking the mayor for supporting the new hiring and reorganization table.

"In the face of budgetary constraints and intense opposition from some of his adversaries, Mayor David Roberts has supported and delivered a contract that is fair to police officers and the taxpayers of Hoboken," he said. "The police officers appointed and promoted today are receiving their appointments because of [Roberts'] leadership and his willingness to stand up for what is right."

Roberts' said Thursday afternoon that he believes the new police structure will keep the city's streets safe while not adversely affecting taxes. "Our goal over the last four months was to provide a visible police presence and to protect our citizens while not hurting the taxpayers," he said. "I believe we did that today and we have made large strides toward keeping Hoboken as the safest city in New Jersey."

Police reorganization

Thursday's event had two main parts: promotions and new hires. Part of Roberts and LaBruno's joint agreement was that the police department's table of organization would be revamped. That, according the LaBruno, meant creating three new bureaus: traffic, transportation and pedestrian safety; public housing; and school partnership.

To make this possible, three captains, three lieutenants, and one sergeant were promoted to take leadership roles within the department.

According to LaBruno, new Capt. Karen Dimondi will be heading up the bureau of public housing. Dimondi, an 18-year veteran of the force, is the first woman to ever to ascend to rank of captain in Hoboken. She was born and raised in the Hoboken Housing Authority and now will be in charge of overseeing the safety of the projects that she grew up in.

"Today is a very proud moment for me," said Dimondi in between hugs from friends and fellow officers. "Growing up here, I've known most of the people that live here for my entire life. That makes this that much more special."

According to city officals, newly appointed Capt. Daniel Simone, a 25-year veteran, will head the bureau dealing with traffic, transportation and pedestrian safety. Newly promoted Lt. Robert Lisa, an 18-year veteran, will take over the detective and vice bureau, and Capt. Edward Cunning will move from the detectives' bureau to the new school partnership department.

Promoted to the rank of lieutenant from sergeant were Paul DiMartino, Michael Plunkett and Nicholas Manente. Promoted to the rank of sergeant from police officer was Stephen Drasheff.

As part of the agreement between the city and the department, none of those promoted will take the increase in pay that goes along with the promotion for the first year, in order to save money.

New hires

All of the 18 patrol officers will cost the city little for the first three years of their employment. According to city Business Administrator Robert Drasheff, they will be funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) program. Under the COPS program, the grants will pay for 75 percent of the new officers' salaries for three years. After the three years are up, the city will have to absorb the salary of those officers.

The new Hoboken police officers are: Jacqueline Rubino, Steven Aguiar, Scott Carter, Edward Lepre, Andrea Zema, Marco Grossman, Christopher Hatfield, Jason Falco, Angel Ramos Romano, Vito Gigante, William Collins, Jonathan Butler, Joseph Mezzina, Anthony Fesken, Jennifer Simone, Andrew Frey, Alejandro Gonzalez, and Elias Colon, Jr.