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“To see him have to resign [this way] is a sad miscarriage of justice,”
a ranking PAPD officer told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “A letter of reprimand or a day off would have sent the message.
“But riddle me this: How can anyone criticize the Chief when it’s standard operating procedure for members of this department to cater to drunken legislators and drive them wherever they want to go because they made fools of themselves at our airports?
“[Gov. Jim] McGreevy would not go anywhere without our motorcycle units,” the officer said, “even though he had NJ State Police protection.”
“It’s a shame,” another ranking officer with the agency told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning. “We can’t even take care of our own.”
Former PAPD Chief Robert H. Belfiore
“I guess I should never make a transport for a resident during my shift if it’s slow, and should instead refer the stranded person to a cab company,” another officer said. “As for the rat within the PAPD: Glad he’s the type we have protecting our airports, ports, etc. Loser spends his time screwing over one of his own over something so stupid.”
Others have chimed in, as well.
A former federal agent suggested PAPD officers “decline to scoot ‘VIPs’ in official vehicles henceforth” in protest.
Belfiore, a 61-year-old former Newark officer and father of three, has become known within hundreds of law enforcement agencies on both sides of the river because of his work with New Jersey’s Special Olympics. (See: Port Authority PD’s face of NJ Special Olympics eyed in free ride for daughter )
A PAPD veteran described him as “a good cop and a good chief. Tough but fair.”
His firing “makes my job much more difficult,” the ranking officer said. “How do I motivate men and ask them to go in harm’s way and maybe forfeit their lives in the age of Al Qaeda when something like this happens? Morale is so low it wouldn’t reach a snake’s belly wearing a high hat.”
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