Colonial Alliance RFP Puts Chiefs Under the Microscope

Last week, the Camden County Colonial Alliance issued a request for proposals (RFP) to explore the feasibility of consolidating police leadership and administrative services among seven local municipalities.

The stated goal of the document is “increasing law enforcement administrative efficiency without interfering with overriding public safety concerns, while reducing redundancy of services amongst agencies.”

It is not meant "to combine police departments,” Collingswood Mayor James Maley said at the July 2013 meeting of the Collingswood borough commissioners, when the study was announced. 

“It’s simply to look at what types of police administrative services we could share together to save money.

“We’re not interested in efficiencies that drive operational problems,” he said.

Comparable to Cherry Hill

Maley has previously described the aims of the Colonial Alliance as creating economies of scale that would benefit its members with better purchasing prices, shared equipment and resources, and the ability to offer a higher degree of services. 

The measuring stick commonly referenced in those comparisons has been Cherry Hill township, population: 69,965. The estimated population of the seven towns in the Colonial Alliance tallies at 65,291. 

Geographically, the Colonial Alliance covers 12.25 square miles collectively, about half the physical area of Cherry Hill (24.24 square miles).

Currently that population is policed by 118 full-time officers, who are overseen by seven chiefs and supported by 11 administrative staff, according to the RFP. Cherry Hill has around 130 sworn officers and 21 civilian staff.

Preliminary research into salary figures for the chiefs of these towns indicates a range of $98,000-$111,000—and those are the numbers local officials would like to address most.

Cherry Hill has one police chief, Rick Del Campo, for roughly the same population, Maley pointed out. Del Campo's reported $138,500 salary is about one-seventh the cost of the collective chiefs' salaries in the Colonial Alliance.

Timely attrition?

A key component of the RFP seems to be its opportunity to offer timely opportunities for attrition.

Several municipal police chiefs, whose higher-salaried leadership positions have long been a focus of cost-cutting initiatives, are slated for retirement in the near future.

Haddonfield will accept formally the retirement of its chief, John Banning, Aug. 1.

Collingswood Chief Richard Sarlo is only under contract for the remainder of the year; his retirement is something for which the borough had been planning since the end of 2012. 

Chief Joseph Abbate of Oaklyn is under contract through the end of 2015, but he has announced his intention to retire Jan. 31, 2014.

“Nobody goes into this with the intention that we’re firing anybody, but the fact is there’s a bunch of chiefs retiring in the next few years,” Maley said.

“We’ve lost a lot of superior officers in the last couple of years, and it’s all because of the changes in health care copay,” he said. 

For many senior officers with enough years of service, retirement “means they go back to paying nothing for their health care,” Maley said, while netting a comparable salary figure.

But the plan doesn't just affect those personnel who are prepared to retire soon.

Three of the police chiefs in the Colonial Alliance do not currently have a contract; a fourth is working under an expired contract. 

The Audubon and Haddon Township police forces are both working under expired contracts, according to the RFP; those of Haddonfield, Haddon Heights and Mount Ephraim will run out next year. 

Only Oaklyn and Collingswood police have contracts through the end of 2015.

Process and feedback

The issue of police consolidation of any kind is a sensitive one in an area that saw heated political discussion surrounding the disbanding of the Camden City police department in favor of a countywide metro division, the only current jurisdictional responsibility of which is the policing of Camden City.

In fact, discussion of the RFP was heated when a draft of the document was leaked in May of this year.

Perhaps in recognition of that, there is feedback built into the study process as well.

There will be a public review of the final document and two public comment periods at which the consultants that drafted the proposal must be present to discuss, among other things, the possible costs of enacting such a plan.

The project is supposed to run on a four-month timeline from the date any contract for the study is awarded. 

All proposals will be submitted by 3 p.m. Aug. 16 to Haddonfield Borough Hall.

This article is one of a series examining the impact of a police leadership and administrative feasibility study in the towns of Audubon, Collingswood, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Haddon Township, Mount Ephraim and Oaklyn. Click here to read reactions from current and retired law enforcement officers.