Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-06-21
POLICE BOARD
KNOTTED BY A
KNOTTY PROBLEM
In a Peck of Trouble Over the
Question of Keeping
Brown Busy.
CONFRONTED BY CIVIL
SERVICE PROPOSITION
Commissioners Differ as to
Question of Jumping and
Transfer Matters.

II would seem from all that lis being
said in and out of police circles that
| the police commissioners are in "a
peck" of trouble over the carrying
out of certain plans.
, While wondering whether or not
they have not come into collision
with civil service regulations in en-
ploying Captain Martin II. Ray as an
expert to reorganize the department,
for period extending beyond sixty
days, and paying him for his serv-
ices, the local commissioners are in a
quandary as to what course they are
to pursue in the case of Captain John
Brown. recently appointed inspector
This is newly created position. and
IL is held that if a salary Is attached
to the office 1t gets into the competi-
tive class and can only be filled by a
person taken from an eligible list
certified by the Civil Service Board
after passing a competitive test.
Captain Ray was on the payroll for
seventeen weeks and ii Is said that
even Mayor Raymond questioned tho
legality of the extended term ar
rangement.
Little Work for Inspector.
1t now turns out that 1t Is proving
a difficult proposition to keep Inspec-
tor Brown at steady employment In
his new job; that Is to say work that
would Justify the creating of the Of
flee of inspector. and as an inspector
| is presumed to be superior in rank to
captain, 1t Is argued that an in
spector should receive more than a
captains pay.
There's the rub. The commissioners
cannot pay the inspector a salary
| higher than that received by captains
without civil service approval, and
the appointee must have passed
civil service examina ton and be certi
| fled as eligible to appointment. Nor
can the police commissioners, under
the civil service law, appoint a. person
10 an office for a period exceeding
sixty days. and the same law does
not permit q person so temporarily
appointed to succeed himself for an
other period long or short. There
| fore, as Inspector Brown has been
i performing inspectors duties while
drawing a captains pay for sixty
/ days or more 1t is case OF some
body being up against IL. He cannot
be certified on the payroll by Civil
| Service Commissioner Alexander III.
| Fordyce. jr.. who has charge of the
| Newark district, as an inspector at a
y
fixed for the Office of inspector and
If Brown is drawing captains pay
and not doing a captains work, the
entry on the payroll must necessarily
not be a true record of fact.
CommissIoners Not In Accord.
The police commissioners, II is ru-
mored, are divided on this and sew
eral other points. Two are said to
think 1t simple matter to get
around any civil service obstacle that
might bob up, while two are inclined
easy about such matters. While Ii is
not definitely known as to now the
commissioners stand. 1t was hinted
down at the City Hall today that
Bigelow and Reid are the recalcitrant
members and that President Breiden-
bach and Commissioner Donnelly are
the complacent ones.
Recently Inspector Brown, so the
story runs. called upon Mayor Ray
mond and besought his good offices
for a raise in pay, so that, as in
spector, he would receive more than
he was getting as captain-that is,
81, 800 Brown lis on terms of personal
friendship with the mayor, having
signed his petition as mayoralty
candidate before the primaries.
There Was Nothing Doing"
1t Is not recorded whether the
mayor expressed approval or dis
approval of Inspector Browns re-
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