Leadership within Trenton departments faces challenges

There recently was a situation between two firefighters that involved the use of a box cutter. It appears that the incident was covered up by supervisors and for some, the belief was that it was done for political reasons. The Fire Director expressed that he was not advised and only found out from reading it in the newspaper.

This incident came to light because of a letter that was written relating the incident and that they believed it was covered up by the Fire Director in an effort to protect a local politician. Whether that is accurate or not, the ongoing investigation will determine that.

My unease does not involve the assault. I am sure if the incident occurred as has been reported, the offending firefighter will be disciplined appropriately now that it is out in the open. Whether covered up or not, is truly irrelevant at this point.

My concern lies with this belief that there are these insidious firefighters and police officers in the Trenton Fire Department and Trenton Police Department that refuse to be led by people of color. It is this belief that somehow, each time a person of color is put in charge of either of these departments, that there is push back solely because the individual is African American or Latino.

Having been a member of the Trenton Police Department, I will speak only of my experiences there.

Prior to the position of Police Director coming into existence in 2000, the Trenton Police Department was led by Chief Erney Williams, the first African American Chief of Police for the city of Trenton, and overseen by Public Safety Director, Retired TPD Lieutenant Eric Fountaine, the first and only Latino to hold that position for the city of Trenton.

Chief Erney Williams and Public Safety Director Eric Fountaine were well respected by the men and women that served during their leadership. Both men had made their careers within the ranks of the TPD and rose to their lofty positions, within the same system that all Trenton police officers did. There was this acknowledgment that they were part of the TPD family and earned their places in the leadership positions that they had obtained.

Since the decision to change from Chief of Police to Police Director

was made in 2000, there have been eight full-time police directors. I am not counting officers that were Police Director in an acting capacity due to the limited time those individuals were police director and the limited impact of their leadership.

Of those eight police directors, seven were people of color. Five were African American, two Latino, and one Caucasian. As one can see, the Trenton Police Department has been led by a person of color over 87% of the time it has had a full-time Police Director. It is not something new or “exotic”. It is not something strange or out of this world. It is very common and to be honest, race and ethnicity mean nothing when it comes to the support or lack of support from the men and women in the police department.

Each Police Director comes in and every member of the police department hopes that the individual in that position actually cares about Trenton and has pride in leading the Trenton Police Department. Each and every police director has had their proponents and those that did not agree with how they ran the police department. Even Director Parrey had his detractors and he was Caucasian. That is the nature of the beast of being the person in charge. But there is a certain resistance from every Trenton Police Officer when the Police Director does not come up through the ranks of the force.

There is a level of pride that is grown as you go through the ranks and learn of your department’s history that pushes officers to want to lead. Wearing of their respective uniform, patch and badge means something to members of the different forces. To say I was a member of the Trenton Police Department is said in a respectful and prideful tone recognizing the years I served wearing that uniform for this city. My desire to lead came from the lessons I learned through my years from the great men and women who lead before me. They impressed upon me the importance of doing the job right, of ensuring the safety of the citizens of Trenton, and what it meant to be a Trenton Police Officer.

I am sure if you go through the leadership of the Newark Police Department one will find that every Police Chief and Police Director were members of the Newark Police Department. I am sure if you were to go through the leadership of the Camden Police Department, one will find that every Police Chief and Police Director were members of the Camden Police Department.

But for whatever reason, politicians in this city do not understand that. Of those eight fulltime police directors, six were from other departments, with three coming from Newark. These individuals have no connections to Trenton. Some may not even know how to get here without GPS. The only one of these outside Police Directors that actually moved into the city was Director Jim Golden. And he probably had it the hardest as the first full-time police director.

The city leaders believe that members of the Trenton Police Department are incapable to lead or that there aren’t enough people of color capable among the upper ranks of the department. Because it is obvious that being a person of color is a determining factor.

The fact that most Police Directors have been from outside the department, with no true connections to this city and its history, coupled with the fact that many of them did really poor jobs in improving the city and the department, is why there has been resistance.

Not because any of them were African American or Latino.