Guidelines needed for appointing NJ police superintendent

As the first retired librarian of the New Jersey State Police, having organized the State Police Library in Sea Girt in 1971, I have seen over the years the many fine men and women who have been trained at the State Police Academy.

They worked hard and strove to protect the citizens of New Jersey. Since I retired in 1997, I am appalled at the treatment these wonderful troopers are receiving. They were the best in the nation, but are now looked upon with a jaundiced eye by the public.

It is not the fault of these fine troopers that the supervision they are receiving from the governor, the attorney general and the superintendent of the police has caused so many problems for them. Even though the troopers have been trained especially to do their job, each supervisor wants to tell them exactly how to do it.

Our last good superintendent was Carl A. Williams, who came up from the ranks of the state troopers. From there on, each superintendent has tried and failed, even the one former, out-of-state trooper who was selected.

Certainly the last superintendent appointed by Gov. James E. McGreevey was an absolute disaster for the state police.

The New Jersey State Police, the Assembly and the Senate should put their heads together to pass a law requiring that our New Jersey State Police superintendent be selected from within the ranks of the New Jersey State Police. They should develop guidelines involving rank, education, time in service and background checks to use in appointing these superintendents.

I hope there are some legislators in this state smart enough to see how this would help the morale, integrity and pride that was once part of the New Jersey State Police, and above all, how to better serve the people of our state.

Julianna L. Smith

Brick