As reported by nj.com, Lawrence Township could become the first municipality in New Jersey to privatize 911 police dispatching services, should the council approve a contract worth $719,400 a year with iXP Corp. of Cranbury next Tuesday.

The idea of privatizing the town’s six-member dispatching team was first floated last fall, as Lawrence sought ways to plug a budget gap. Superstorm Sandy delayed the process until last month, when iXP returned the sole bid to take over the service, though at a higher than expected cost.

Current dispatchers have had a lukewarm reaction to the proposal, saying they don’t know enough about iXP and the pay and benefits the company will offer. In addition, privatization of police services has often been viewed with apprehension by the law enforcement community.

South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond J. Hayducka, the president of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, said he’s monitoring the situation with interest. “There’s always trepidation with something new, especially if something is working,” he said. “It’s a new concept that hasn’t been tested yet in New Jersey, but I’m familiar with other states where it has been successful. It will be interesting to see.”  

iXP has experience providing dispatch services similar to the Lawrence proposal, staffing a facility in Sandy Springs, GA that serves multiple communities in the Atlanta-metro area. While Hayducka said iXP has a very good reputation as a vendor in the police community, he also said any police chief would naturally be concerned about the selection of personnel. He noted that dispatchers use the National Crime Information Center database. “We would want to make sure they could provide the same service and the same background checks,” he said. “Dispatchers have access to NCIC terminals and sensitive police matters.”

Lawrence’s dispatchers make about $47,000 a year, while the one senior dispatcher is paid about $56,000. iXP said those dispatchers hired would, in their first year, earn the equivalent of their current town salary, through a combination of iXP’s starting salary and a sign-on bonus. In the succeeding years, they would earn the base salary and have opportunities for quarterly and performance bonuses of $700 to over $3,000 a year. However, they would no longer receive contributions to their pension plan, but could participate in a company-matched 401(k) plan.

Tags: Articles, budget, dispatch, lawrence, NJ Police, NJ Public Safety Officers, privatization, savings
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Photo of Donald C. Barbati Donald C. Barbati

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues…

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues litigated before the courts and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Barbati also routinely represents individuals in various types of public pension appeals, real estate transactions, and general litigation matters. He is a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog, a free legal publication designed to keep New Jersey public safety officers up-to-date and informed about legal issues pertinent to their profession. During his years of practice, Mr. Barbati has established a reputation for achieving favorable results for his clients in a cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Barbati has also handled numerous novel legal issues while representing New Jersey Public Safety Officers. Most notably, he served as lead counsel for the Appellants in the published case In re Rodriguez, 423 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 2011). In that case, Mr. Barbati successfully argued on behalf of the Appellants, thereby overturning the Attorney General’s denial of counsel to two prison guards in a civil rights suit arising from an inmate assault. In the process, the Court clarified the standard to be utilized by the Attorney General in assessing whether a public employee is entitled to legal representation and mandated that reliance must be placed on up-to-date information.

Prior to becoming a practicing attorney, Mr. Barbati served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage. During his clerkship Mr. Barbati handled numerous complex and novel substantive and procedural issues arising from complaints in lieu of prerogative writs, orders to show cause, and motion practice. These include appeals from decisions by planning and zoning boards and local government bodies, bidding challenges under the Local Public Contract Law, Open Public Records Act requests, the taking of private property under the eminent domain statute, and election law disputes. In addition, Mr. Barbati, as a certified mediator, mediated many small claims disputes in the Special Civil Part.

Mr. Barbati received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Mr. Barbati attended Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2007, he received his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, graduating in the top five percent of his class. During law school, Mr. Barbati interned for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey, assisting on various constitutional, employment, and Third Circuit Court of Appeals litigation, including numerous civil rights, social security, and immigration cases.

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