Six sergeants selected at Hoboken PD after legal challenges to state test clear

HOBOKEN–Seven members of the Hoboken Police Department will be promoted at a ceremony this coming Tuesday, March 3, at 3 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of Hoboken City Hall, located at 94 Washington St. All members of the public are invited to attend.
Sergeant John Petrosino will be promoted to lieutenant, and Police Officers Saverio R. Binetti, Jonathan Butler, Arbend Drishti, Edward M. Sellick, Steven C. Kranz, and Robert Fulton will be promoted to sergeant. Retiring Lieutenant Kevin Cruz will also be honored at the ceremony.
Sergeant promotions in Hoboken had been on hold for years after the state-wide civil service exam for the position was successfully challenged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2010 for having a discriminatory impact on African-Americans and Hispanics.
New Jersey wrote and administered a new sergeant examination in 2013 as part of a legal settlement with the DOJ, but the new test was also challenged as unfair, and its results were not officially certified and released until Jan. 29 of this year, according to Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante.
As another condition of the settlement, explained Ferrante, Hoboken gave priority promotions in November to the three Latino officers with the highest scores on the 2013 sergeant test.
Hoboken was one of 11 New Jersey municipalities required to give priority promotions to black or Latino officers under the DOJ Consent Decree. Some Latino sergeant candidates in Hoboken were also eligible for back pay.
The six officers being promoted on Tuesday received the six highest scores among those remaining on the sergeant list, according to Ferrante. The unexpected retirement of Lt. Cruz allowed the police department to promote one more officer to sergeant than originally planned.
The new test results will serve as the list of officers eligible for promotion to sergeant for the next three years.
Sergeants are responsible for squads of five to ten officers, while lieutenants manage whole shifts or units of the Police Department.