Wednesday, 6 April 2022
www.TheObserver.com
Vol. CXXXIV, No. 48
ON THE INSIDE In sports, a look at the NA & Kearny baseball teams and Nutley’s first volleyball team. PAGE 9
BELLEVILLE n BLOOMFIELD n EAST NEWARK n HARRISON n KEARNY n LYNDHURST n NORTH ARLINGTON n NUTLEY
NA HIRES 3 VETERAN COPS; 2 ARE WOMEN Story & photo by Ron Leir
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For The Observer
omen in blue are back anew in North Arlington. For the first time since 2000, the borough Police Department has women included in its ranks – two, in fact. Coinciding with the celebration of March as Women’s History Month, Tiffany Marino and Gabriela Toribio were sworn in March 28 as patrol officers. Also added to the force was Aaron Hensz. The trio, all filling vacancies in the ranks, are transfers from the Paterson Police Department and their oaths were administered by their former boss, Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim “Michael” Baycora, at the borough senior center. North Arlington is getting “three excellent police officers,” Baycora said. Addressing a crowd of the officers’ family members and friends, along with members of the borough police department, Mayor Daniel Pronti said: “We’re very pro-police
What’s going on with Belleville’s trash pickup? By Ron Leir
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At the swearing in were, from left, Councilwomen Allison Sheedy, Lynette Cavadas, Chief Scott Hedenberg, new officers Aaron Hensz, Tiffany Marino and Gabriela Toribo, Mayor Daniel H. Pronti and Councilwoman Donna Bocchino.
here,” assuring the new hires, “you’re going to have the backing of the mayor and council … as long as you’re doing your job.” Borough Police Chief Scott Hedenberg added: “This is a small town, a small community. Sometimes we fight
like a family, then we fix it like a family.” In prior years, the borough has imported other bluecoats from Paterson and “they assimilate [to the department’s protocol] and they get it,” he added.
For The Observer
ver since Belleville’s governing body voted to dump its perennial trash collector earlier this year, the township has been beset by trouble. In a March 21 letter to The Observer, Michelle Smith, a resident of the River Mill West Condo Association, said after the township ended its contract with Suburban Disposal, of Fairfield, and hired Galaxy Carting, of Jersey City, as a temporary hauler, “our community and the rest of Belleville have not been receiving regular garbage/recycling collections for two weeks.” Contributing to the delays, Smith said, “our dumpsters were removed and not replaced for a week. The (township) DPW delivered a minimal of ‘loaner’ dumpsters to our property (March 15) and picked up garbage as best they could at that
See COPS, Page 18
See RUBBISH, Page 12
AG’s directive causes police chase to be called off; man cops sought had hollow-point bullets & gun: PD By Capt. Timothy Wagner Kearny Police Department
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n March 29 at 1:57 p.m., a Wilson Avenue resident flagged down Officer Pedro Pina to report someone had just stolen her 2021 Dodge Durango SUV while she was warming it up, unoccu-
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ME! D N
pied, in front of her home. Moments later, Officer John Donovan spotted a man driving the stolen Durango near Dukes Street and Schuyler Avenue. When Officer Donovan turned on his emergency lights and siren, the driver of the Durango drove away. This required the police officer to
make a quick legal calculation. Under the Attorney General’s new vehicular pursuit policy, issued in December, Officer Donovan could not pursue the vehicle for auto theft alone, a crime that has increased 37% year-to-date statewide since 2021. However, if Officer Donovan knew the alleged
Easter Egg Hunt
car thief was also an un-apprehended defendant for a recent second-degree aggravated assault charge (which the officer did not yet know), then he could have pursued. Or could he? If Officer Donovan knew the man
Find all the Easter Eggs in our next issue for a chance to win a
$100 Gift Certificate
to one of our participating advertisers!
See CHASE, Page 19
