NEWARK — After a series of budget delays stalled the Newark Police Department's ability to hire, the state's largest police department will announce the addition of 100 new police officers to its ranks during an afternoon press conference.
Fifty officers will enter the police academy in March, and the city hopes to hire an additional 50 officers as soon as that class graduates, according to Police Director Samuel DeMaio, who said the hiring is part of a larger plan to grow the department's roster to 1,400 officers.
The department was hammered by layoffs in 2010, during a statewide budget crunch that also led to mass cutbacks in Camden and Trenton. Newark lost 167 officers that year, and only has 1,006 officers in its ranks now. Before the layoffs, the city staffed roughly 1,170 police officers.
“I had a session with the Council talking about the Newark Police Department moving forward, and I stressed to them how important hiring is going to be," DeMaio said. "It can’t just be 100 this year it’s got to be 100 each year.”
Acting Mayor Luis Quintana is expected to announce the hirings, and discuss the city's "report card" on anti-crime initiatives at a 2 p.m. press conference at city hall today.
Newark suffered 111 homicides in 2013, its deadliest year on record since 1990, according to uniform crime reports and a Star-Ledger analysis of crime data published last week.
While the city budget is suffering from an estimated $35 million shortfall for the 2014 budget year, DeMaio said the money for the new officers will come from money allocated last year for police hires. The department was set to hire 50 officers in 2013, but the city budget was adopted several months late, forcing DeMaio to stall the academy. It is still unclear how the city plans to close the $35 million shortfall.
DeMaio said the city is struggling to increase the overall number of police officers in the city. As the 100 new cops enter the academy, 187 other officers will become eligible to retire this year, he said.