Dear Editor:
Recently I addressed some issues brought to light by award winning Secaucus Reporter investigative journalist Mr. Al Sullivan. In the article entitled “Cell phone ban-not yet” Volume 16, Number 7 some interesting insights were brought to light concerning the Secaucus Police Department and the apparent use of cell phones by patrol officers while driving the towns’ police cruisers. As someone who tends to read between the lines I find that some issues come to mind which I believe Mr. Sullivan might want to report on in greater detail for clarification of the matter.
In that article, according to his own words Secaucus Police Chief Corcoran states that some of his officers are talking on cell phones for as long as a half hour. The only way in which the Chief could know this is if the phones with which those officers are talking are cell phones which have been issued to them by the town arguably for police business. If that is the situation no person should have any problem with it since in these days of technology and terrorist threats the police should have as many means of communication as possible at their disposal. Perhaps the availability of these cell phones is due to an arrangement made by town administrator Anthony Iacono for the locating of cell towers on municipally owned property. If my suppositions are correct and what is stated here is the case, then additional questions need to be asked by Mr. Sullivan. Why are those officers using those phones for personal business? By spending this time “as much as a half hour” talking on the cell phones possibly on personal business, then are these officers being less effective at the performance of their assigned duties? Has the availability of these cell phones caused the officers of the Secaucus police department to do less than the job which they are being paid tax dollars to perform? If these phones have been issued for both police and personal use, a job benefit which might be considered to have taxable value, then are the officers as individuals and the town as the employer which issued those cell phones reporting such so that the “value” of that benefit can be calculated and reported as might be required by any applicable federal and state laws for taxing purposes?
It seems that the request which Deputy Mayor John Reilly made in regard to driver safety has opened up doors to yet other questions. I am certain that if Mr. Al Sullivan asks some of the questions posed in this letter many of us will be enlightened on both the subjects of State Motor Vehicle Law and in addition the internal working of the municipal government and how the internal affairs of the Police department operate. That seems to me to be yet one more subject for which Mr. Sullivan might receive an award. In the interim to paraphrase something once said by members of the National Rifle Association “They can have my cell phone when they pry my cold dead fingers from it!”
Michael Seyfried