- Irvington, NJ top cop to resign -
ofr...@hotmail.com
Date: Nov 01 2000 05:21:33 EST
From: "ofr...@hotmail.com" <ofr...@hotmail.com>
Subject:
- Irvington, NJ top cop to resign -
Irvington top cop to resign
10/31/00
BY REGINALD ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
Robert Rankin said he will announce his resignation today
as director of the Irvington Police Department as part of a
proposed settlement of a state pension board order for him
to return about $118,000 in retirement benefits.
When reached at his West Orange home yesterday,
Rankin, 57, was hesitant to talk about quitting his
$105,000-a-year job, but he confirmed that today would be
his last as director of the 187-man force.
"I don't have a heck of lot of choices," he said, adding that
he had to choose between his job and his pension. "You
have to protect your family."
He declined further comment.
Francis Rapa, a spokesman for the state Treasury
Department, said the board received a copy of Rankin's
resignation yesterday. But he said it has not received any
proposal for settlement of the pension dispute, nor has
Rankin appealed its ruling last month that he repay
pension benefits he has already collected.
The board of the state Police and Firemen's Retirement
System ruled Sept. 25 that Rankin was not entitled to the
$5,117 monthly pension he received over a 23-month
period.
In addition to paying back more than $118,000, the board
also said Rankin must pay 8.5 percent of the contributions
he would have paid into the pension system during that
period.
The board unanimously ruled that Rankin had violated state
law, which says a policeman who serves in a supervisory
or appointed position is not entitled to benefits until he has
been retired for at least six months.
Rankin filed for his pension Oct. 1, 1998, although his
retirement from the Newark Police Department, where he
worked for 31 years before taking the Irvington post, was
not effective until Nov. 1, 1998, according to Treasury's
Rapa.
In March, Paul Gizzo resigned as Maplewood police
director in a settlement over a pension dispute similar to
Rankin's. Gizzo retired as a police captain in 1995, then
assumed the director's job within a month and began
collecting his police pension.
Gizzo, who also violated the six- month rule, collected
more than $200,000 in retirement benefits when the board
ruled.
The settlement called for Gizzo to pay back $24,000 of the
benefits. He had collected more than $45,000 a year from
the pension and drew a $64,465 annual salary.
Rankin's resignation comes as crime is on the rise in
Irvington, which is bucking a state and national trend of
falling crime rates. According to the latest New Jersey
Uniform Crime Report, Irvington had the second-highest
violent- crime rate in the state, second only to the small
town of Seaside Heights.
Irvington Mayor Sara Bost, who appointed Rankin in 1998,
did not return phone calls to her office yesterday.
Bost hired Rankin in September 1998 after the start of her
second term. At the time, she touted his administrative
experience, which included directing two Newark precincts
that were larger than Irvington's police department.
The mayor said she was impressed with Rankin's desire to
meet with community leaders and township block
associations.
Despite meetings with various community groups, many
believe the police are not solving the town's crime problem.
At the same time, the director faced problems within the
organization, many of which began before he came aboard.
In February, FBI agents seized reams of documents during
a raid at police headquarters. Law-enforcement sources
said the probe centered on allegations of graft in
connection with municipal towing contracts with the
township's official towing firm, MTS Towing.
Later that month, Wendell Huggins, 35, a 10-year veteran
of the force, admitted in federal court to protecting drug
dealers in Hudson County as they transported money and
narcotics. Huggins was sentenced to 10 months in jail by
a federal judge.
In March, a jury in Superior Court found Michael Daniluk,
42, of Edison, an 11-year veteran of the force, guilty of
stealing household items from a local warehouse.
Daniluk was arrested in a state police sting in 1997 along
with three other Irvington officers, Charles Mans of Newark,
Anthony Margotta of Union and Robert Shaw of Irvington.
Mans and Margotta pled guilty. A trial is pending against
Shaw.
--
- Outlaw Frog Raper -
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