WEST WILDWOOD — The West Wildwood Police Department has a new deputy chief, but the position is not without controversy in the borough.
Robert King, a retired detective-sergeant with the state police, started his first day of work on Feb. 6, after Mayor Charles Frederick and Commissioner Gerald McNamara voted for his hiring during a Feb. 3 commissioner’s meeting.
Commissioner Scott Golden voted against the appointment because he said that King’s hiring went against a borough ordinance that requires promotion from within the police department.
“No offense to Mr. King, but I don’t want to see any more litigation come to the borough because we didn’t do thing correctly,” Golden said.
Golden said that the commissioners couldn’t consult legal counsel because borough solicitor Paul Baldini wasn’t in attendance during the Feb. 3 meeting.
“I wasn’t comfortable voting yes on something that would get us into more legal trouble without some sort of legal representation at the table,” Golden said.
Calls to Baldini’s office were not returned buy presstime.
King takes over the deputy chief position from Walter Belles who retired in December 2010. Since then, the Cape May Prosecutor’s Office has been overseeing the day-to-day operations of the borough police department.
According to Chris Ridings, administrative assistant to the mayor, King oversees five police officers, including both class II and regular officers. His yearly base salary is $55,000.
King, a resident of Upper Township, has experience in finance crimes and organized crime. Ridings also said he worked in casino intelligence eight years as a casino investigator and in the field operations section of the state police for 11 years. King’s resume includes extensive experience in policing and investigating fraud, racketeering, murder, money laundering, promoting gambling, narcotics trafficking, counterfeit, theft and assault.
Golden said the top position at the borough’s police department has “quite a history.”
The borough has not had a police chief since Alan Fox, former Mayor Chris Fox’s brother, retired.
After Fox, Lt. Jacquelyn Ferentz went on to take on duties of an acting chief, but was suspended in March 2009. She has since been involved in legal battles with the borough and with Frederick.
Golden said that he thought Sgt. Tom Meceli would be next in line to take on the duties of deputy chief. He said that Meceli was suspended in the fall of this year and is also in litigation.
“If we were promoting someone to deputy chief, I thought it would be him,” said Golden. “I didn’t think we were hiring someone until that was resolved. It seems that we are doing all this hiring out of order.”
Mayor Frederick, who oversees public safety, did not return phone calls regarding King’s hiring.
Lauren Suit can be e-mailed at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or you can comment on this story at shorenewstoday.com.
