Cops Complain, City’s Ready to Meet

SEA ISLE CITY – In a December 2016 letter to Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio, Thomas Martino, vice president of the county’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7 with offices in Wildwood, wrote “We have come to a point where we no longer have confidence in the leadership of Chief of Police Thomas J. D’Intino.” 
The letter continues by stating that D’Intino “has regularly engaged in conduct toward members of the department that can be described as both demeaning and insulting” and cites “markedly low morale, lack of positive dialogue and [a] failure to address situations involving training, equipment, and grievances.”
These excerpts of the letter were posted on the website of a group called Libertarians for Transparency whose stated activities strive to ensure transparency in all levels of state government.
The letter, which requests a meeting with the mayor and city council, stated that the union does “not intend to make these issues a public spectacle.”
Sea Isle City Business Administrator George Savastano emphatically stated that the municipality fully stands behind D’Intino and that the letter may have been motivated by a case of “sour grapes by individuals who believe they should be getting more than what their contract calls for and beyond what the public would support.”
Savastano further explained that “A FOP representative, who neither the mayor nor I have ever met or even talked to, sent the Dec. 10 letter. Despite the fact that the allegations in the letter are unfounded, it was promptly responded to in a Dec. 16 letter from me to Martino and also represents the views of the mayor and city council.”
Savastano’s Dec. 16 reply, a two-page summary defending D’Intino and the cty, to Martino noted that he, city administration and city council have complete confidence in the police chief and that the administration is willing to meet with the FOP.
“Quite frankly, the administration was taken aback by the Dec. 10 letter from the FOP, which clearly represents an unseemly effort to circumvent the chain of command and the appropriate due process by undermining and disparaging a highly-decorated and credentialed police professional who has dedicated his career to law enforcement,” emphasized Savastano.
Savastano said that the FOP has some contractual matters with the city that have been or are being negotiated including grievances and disciplinary matters.
However, “There has been no request to meet from the FOP since May and (the city) has made every effort to provide the municipality’s police force with excellent training and equipment, and it enjoys the finest facilities in the county,” added Savastano.
”We have nothing whatsoever against meeting the FOP to resolve any issues within the established process that we all have agreed on. We have nothing, as well, against public discussion of these matters and look forward to a constructive dialogue to move any concerns forward to resolution.”