At the Sept. 5 West Orange Township Council meeting, police Chief James Abbott discusses how the department will be reorganized should the council vote to create a new captain position.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Police Department is looking to reorganize to better serve the community. Specifically, the department will be adding a new police captain position — increasing from four to five.
The issue, introduced at the Sept. 5 Township Council meeting, was met favorably and the council approved the issue on final reading at the Sept. 19 meeting with a vote of 4-1; Councilwoman Susan McCartney voted against it.
“Taking the captains from four to five brings us more in line to where we were years ago,” West Orange Police Chief James Abbott said at the meeting. “In fact, there were eight captains when I was first appointed in 1980.”
Abbott said adding another captain will allow the department to create special teams made up of patrolmen.
“It’s going to allow me to take apart the operations of the patrol division and departmentalize it into special response teams,” he told the council.
The new captain will be Will Varanelli, who is currently a lieutenant in the department.
“Most of you got to know him on a first-name basis because he’s my go-to guy when we have problems in a neighborhood,” Abbot said at the meeting. “I’m going to make him his own unit rather than have him come in under a captain of investigations, because … there’s just sometimes too much internal conflict with having the traditional detectives who follow up on crimes and the quality of life issues. I just believe that this is going to allow me to individualize these functions differently.”
A lieutenant and sergeant will be under Varnelli as captain, but they will not be newly created positions.
“There will be a lieutenant and a sergeant, but not an additional lieutenant and sergeant,” Abbott said at the meeting, adding that these positions are “just in line with the vacancies that would be created with that ascension.”
According to Abbott, the budget will increase by 13 percent if the ordinance passes. It will take a full year for the new positions to be paid the top salary and since 2017 is almost over, the police department budget will increase by half of that 13 percent for most of 2018.
“It takes a full year to go to top pay, and then another full year to have that in your salary,” Abbott told the council. “Since this year is almost over it would really only be half of that 13 percent for the majority of next year.”
By the end of this year, Abbott will have two officers back on patrol due to the reorganization, creating greater efficiency, according to the chief.
“We will be returning one officer to patrol duties immediately and a second before the end of the year by consolidating these duties under the new captain,” he said in an email to the West Orange Chronicle on Sept. 14. “There will be greater efficiency by assigning officers directly to the times and places most needed as it relates to crime and motor vehicle enforcement.”
With the addition of the new captain, the police department will become home to one chief, two deputy chiefs, five captains, 11 lieutenants, 21 sergeants and 81 patrolmen, according to the ordinance.
“Promotions are typically an exciting time for police agencies and we very much look forward to the advancement of these fine candidates,” Abbott said.
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