Vito Gagliardi Interviewed in The Record Regarding Cliffside Park Police Chief Court Case

Police Chief Donald Keane is seeking a court injunction to bar the Cliffside Park borough council from enforcing a recently adopted ordinance which stripped Keane of some of his powers. At its October 8th meeting, the borough council passed an amendment to an existing ordinance depriving Keane of the ability to assign certain duties and responsibilities within the police department. In addition, the altered ordinance named the Deputy Chief as the liaison to the Mayor and Council in the event of Keane's absence. It also authorized the Mayor, with the approval of the Council, to appoint up to three permanent detectives in the department.

The complaint filed last week by Vito Gagliardi Jr., Keane’s attorney, cites New Jersey State Statue Title 40A:14-118 which gives Police Chiefs the exclusive right to decide assignments, promotions and whom to leave in charge when they’re away.  Sections of the newly passed ordinance “represent a clear affront to Chief Keane’s authority under the Police Chiefs’ Bill of Rights,” wrote Gagliardi in the complaint. “The ordinance is precisely the sort of political interference from a political official that the statute was designed to prevent.”

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