Nazareth Police Department gains two additional officers

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Two part-time officers have been added to the Nazareth Police Department's roster as the borough grapples with loss of personnel and rising operating costs.

Nazareth Police officer Ben Rizzotto gives a ride to his son, Dominic, at the 2009 tree lighting ceremony in the borough.

During tonight's Borough Council meeting, Council Vice President Larry Stoudt announced the employment of Ben Rizzotto and Justin Bickhardt. Both are expected to be sworn in to their positions by Mayor Fred Daugherty Jr., who was not present during the meeting, in coming weeks.

They will be paid a salary between $18 to $19 an hour, said Chief Thomas Trachta.

The department currently is down to two of its usual six full-time officers and has eight part-time officers.

Daugherty told the public during last week's workshop meeting to keep the department next year, taxes would need to increase at least three mills. The mayor also estimated about $267,000 has been taken out of the general fund for two officers currently collecting workers’ compensation.

Trachta, in an interview last month, said he had felt officers were “jumping ship” in fear they won’t have jobs if the borough contracts services with Colonial Regional, which doesn’t want to be obligated to hire Nazareth officers.

Other departments have hired five borough officers, including one of the borough’s full-time officers. At least one full-time officer has been hired to work part-time at another department and four part-time officers are requesting additional time off due to part-time obligations at other departments, Trachta had said.

Following the meeting, Trachta said he had requested to borough officials the part-time officers be hired based on results of the civil service test. He said Rizzotto ranked number one and Bickhardt ranked number three, according to performance on the test.

"It's cost effective and we need the personnel," Trachta said. "I asked for two and they gave me two. I can't complain about that. This is moving in the right direction."

It's unclear how many hours the pair will work, but Trachta expected less than 32 hours and said they would fill in as necessary.

Rizzotto, who lives in the borough, has been working as a part-time police officer in Upper Nazareth and graduated from Lackawanna College Police Academy. Bickhardt currently is in a police department in a Pennsylvania borough and had served in the military for eight years.

"It feels great," Rizzotto said about joining Nazareth. "I wanted the job and I want to do it well."

Bickhardt couldn't be reached for comment tonight.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2011/07/nazareth_police_department_gai.html