"My guys are being fired and then given an opportunity to be hired back at considerably less pay," he said. "Unless all your people buy into this plan and are encouraged to make it work, it won't work."
The police unions had remained relatively quiet on the issue of regionalized forces, in which the traditional town police and fire departments are replaced by a larger department in an effort to cut costs. But the concept is starting to gain some momentum, as cash-strapped towns across New Jersey and Pennsylvania consider the once unthinkable.
What form such a force would take in Camden County remains hazy. But dividing lines have already begun to form, with many police and fire chiefs expressing skepticism that a countywide agency can provide service equal to that provided by the town-by-town approach. Mayors, meanwhile, who are watching their budgets shrink by the day, said they were willing to look at anything to cut costs.
"It's really going to boil down to money. Is this going to be good value for me? If it's the same money, and I'm going to have to dismantle my force, I don't know if it's worth it," said Haddon Heights Mayor Scott Alexander.
A concern expressed quietly among suburban officials is whether Camden City will sign on and, if so, whether the suburbs would end up subsidizing the policing of what is ranked the country's second-most-dangerous city.
Neither Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd nor Police Chief Scott Thomson was present at Tuesday's meeting. But after laying off almost half its police force last month, the city would seem an obvious candidate for the regionalized force.
Asked about Camden's involvement in the county talks, mayor's office spokesman Robert Corrales wrote in an e-mail, "We have been concentrating our efforts on budget issues and to seeking solutions to bring back as many public safety personnel as possible."
