A spokesperson for the Orange Policemen's Benevolent Association (PBA) said yesterday that the union has had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding the promotion of a black police sergeant.

"The PBA categorically denies any wrongdoing whatever in what happened with the appointment of Officer Charles Whittle," said the spokesman, Detective John Roche.

"The PBA doesn't have any input into the hiring or promotional practices of the city of Orange," he said. "That is left up to the appointing authority, Mayor Paul Monacelli."

Cobbertt, along with the head of the NAACP of the Oranges and Maplewood and the leaders of two black police organizations, held a news conference to support making Whittle's promotion permanent.

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 and on the day a Civil Service promotion list expired.

Said Cobbertt, "I believe it was a cooked-up plan" by the mayor to wait until the last minute and make the appointment. "And I believe the PBA had something to do with it."

Roche said the PBA declined to comment on the questions surrounding Monacelli's last-minute appointment of Whittle.

"It's inappropriate to say anything about it at this time because the matter is being investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office," Roche said.

"Concerning Lt. Cobbertt's statements, however, the PBA feels the rapport situation between white and minority officers in the Orange Police Department is a good one," he said.

Roche added, "Any unsubstantiated racial comment made by anyone about anything in the police department, or our working relationship with each other, is at best counterproductive and smacks of racism itself."

Cobbertt has been given "every opportunity to present his concerns to the PBA, and the appropriate committee in it which handles problems of this nature," Roche maintained.

But, he said, Cobbertt has chosen not to do so. "It's unfortunate Lt. Cobbertt felt it necessary to voice his concerns about Officer Whittle through the media as opposed to the proper established channels within our organization.

"The PBA feels Officer Whittle, a 23-year veteran of the police department, is a fine law enforcement officer and would make a good sergeant," Roche continued. "But that is not the issue we're addressing here.

"The problem remains that Officer Whittle's appointment was made late and it was made over the authoritized table of organization for the number of sergeants in the police department," he said.

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

– Charles C. Cobbertt

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