The heads of three black police organizations in Essex County and the president of the NAACP of the Oranges and Maplewood last night said they all support efforts to make permanent the promotion of Charles Whittle to the rank of sergeant in the Orange Police Department.

During a news conference at the NAACP's head-quarters in East Orange, they also said they want the U.S Department of Justice to investigate possible racism in the hiring and promotion policies in the Orange Police Department.

They said Whittle, a black 23-year-veteran of the police force, is a perfect example of how unfair blacks are treated in the Orange Police Department. Whittle has been at the center of controversy since Orange Mayor Paul Monacelli, the city's police director, appointed him to sergeant status on the same day a Civil Service promotion list expired.



Last spring, the state Department of Personnel in Newark invalidated Monacelli's Dec.29, 1986 promotion of Whittle because it said the appointment was made late.

"We feel the City of Orange's promotional policy should be investigate," said Irving A. Childress, president of the 101-member East Orange Kinsmen.

"We also would like to see Civil Service issue written rules regarding the expiration and closing dates of promotional lists and whether one's appointment date or swearing in date is the be considered the date someone officially is promoted." Childress added.

"There are 32 superior officers in the Orange Police Department. Two are black and the balance are white," said James Cosby, the NAACP chapter president. "The ratio of minority officers does not accurately reflect the racial composition of the community."

That is one main reason why "we call upon Morris J. Farinella, regional administrator of the Civil Service, to take this into consideration and act on it accordingly," Cosby said.

Additionally, the NAACP leader noted, "there appears to be institutionalized and departmentalized racism in the Orange Police Department."

Orange already has appealed Farinella's decision with the state Department of Personnel's Merit System Board in Trenton. An answer is expected later this month.

Orange Police Lt. Charles Cobbertt, president of the 16-member Orange Kinsmen, the city's black officers group, said the controversy surrounding Whittle's appointment could have been avoided by Monacelli.

Nine months before the list expired, Cobbertt maintained, he and members of the Kinsmen requested the mayor consider promoting Whittle. And he said they also asked Monacelli to think about hiring more minorities on the city's 93-member police force.

"But he (Monacelli) refused. He flat-out refused," Cobbertt charged, referring to the mayor waiting until the last minute to promote Whittle. "I believe it was a crooked up plan" to wait until the last minute and make the appointment. "And I believe the Policemen's Benevolent Association had something to do with it."

The bottom line, Cobbertt continued, is that Whittle's provisional rather than permanent appointment as a sergeant is "pure prejudice. Anybody can see it."

Just two blacks were hired to fill 14 police officer openings in the past year, Cobbertt added.

He explained there were 30 blacks in a pool of 75 applicants from which the mayor could have chosen police officer candidates.

Ronald L. Arbuckle, president of the 50-member Federation of Afro-American Police Officers in Newark, said, "Our concern is that Officer Whittle was qualified and ready for the position of sergeant.

"But the city of Orange, through its negligence or whatever, did an injustice to him by waiting until the last minute to appoint him to the post," Arbuckle said. "We will use whatever means necessary to ensure this injustice is corrected."

Whittle himself said he feels betrayed by the mayor. He said Monacelli has told him, "just trust me." But, Whittle added, "How can I trust him?"

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“Reach Back with One Hand and Pull Someone Else Up With You.”

– Charles C. Cobbertt

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