Crime & Safety

Residents Given First Chance at Police, Firefighting Jobs

Council approves ordinance 4-0.

An ordinance passed Tuesday grants Teaneck residents priority over other candidates who apply for jobs as township police officers and firefighters.

Although Teaneck already had a policy of giving preference to residents, the town code did not specifically include police hires. Under the ordinance, eligible county residents would be ranked second, followed by state residents and other candidates.

The state Civil Service Commission, which handles testing for applicants, would first exhaust its list of qualified residents before moving on to other candidates, according to the ordinance. Residency is defined as an applicant who lives in town from the date they apply to when they are hired.

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“This is the maximum that we could do to give preference to residents of Teaneck,” said Township Attorney Stanley Turitz, noting state law governed civil service hiring. 

About 30 percent of officers in the police department live in town, while 60 percent were “Teaneck people” who had lived in town at some point, said Township Manager William Broughton.

Find out what's happening in Teaneckwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The ordinance was passed 4-0, with council members Lizette Parker, Adam Gussen and Mark Schwartz absent.


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