Palisades Park promotes first police chief in years, but not without some drama

A new chief of police and a lawsuit settlement in Palisades Park were the last acts of a mayor and a councilman who will not be returning next year.

Outgoing Mayor Christopher Chung said having a chief is "necessary to move the Police Department forward."

Capt. Anthony Espino was promoted to chief of police on Thursday, the same night a $40,000 settlement agreement for a lawsuit he filed was approved. Sgt. John Gasparovich was promoted to captain, skipping past the rank of lieutenant.

This past year, there have been a lawsuit settlement, three new lawsuits and one tort notice filed internally by officers against the department. A prisoner escape also led to a Bergen County Prosecutor's Office investigation. Though no criminal charges were filed, former officer in charge Capt. Shawn Lee retired as part of a settlement agreement, and Lt. Alessandro Monteleone resigned.

The department has been led by an officer in charge since Chief Mark Jackson retired in 2019 amid his own controversy after a scathing report that outlined deficiencies in the department.

During the past decade, the force has had four chiefs and gone through a tumultuous time marked by suspensions, lawsuits and infighting. Some of the department's troubles date to the 1990s, when officers were found to be running a burglary ring and brought unwanted national attention.

Espino filed a lawsuit against the borough and Lee in March. Lee has since retired as part of a settlement agreement with the borough.

The lawsuit says the borough and Lee violated the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act and that there was intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Borough Administrator Dave Lorenzo said he was wary of the way the promotion and settlement agreement happened at the same time. Lorenzo said he has no issue with Espino, but rather with the "new norm" this could create.

"This is opening up a whole new way to go through the promotional process," Lorenzo said. "You can just say someone did something wrong to you, sue, then regardless of the claims, get a promotion and money and then everything is fine?"

This was the fourth attempt to promote Espino to chief of police by Chung in the last month. The Dec. 22 meeting was also Chung's last meeting as mayor, because he did not receive the Democratic Party's endorsement and lost in a primary election.

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Chung originally planned to promote 10 officers at the Nov. 28 meeting, but there was no quorum. The majority of the council also failed to show up at special meetings Chung called for on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12. The council barely had a quorum on Thursday as the promotions passed in a 2-0 vote. Andy Min and Stephanie Jang voted in favor, and Cynthia Pirrera abstained because her son is a sergeant in the Police Department.

The lack of quorum, especially for two regularly scheduled council meetings, "deprives the town of a governing body," said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

"Refusing to meet is not really acceptable," Rasmussen said. "By not showing up, the people of the town are not receiving a functioning government. You could make the argument that the council are not doing their job and the public is not getting the chance to see town business or publicly address the council."

Mayor-elect and current Councilman Chong "Paul" Kim previously said the promotions and special meetings were politically motivated and meant to cause anger and distress.

"On the other hand," Rasmussen said, "without getting into motives, perhaps the other council members think this is the mature, non-confrontational way to defer decisions that the entire town will have to live with and reserving them for the next mayor and council. The meetings wouldn't be productive, and they think there will be fighting. If it's not going to be productive, then what's the point?"

Rasmussen said that while both sides have their own considerations, there still can be a way to have a functioning government and not act on these proposals at the same time.