Woolridge For Sheriff

Passaic County Withholding Public Records Regarding Sheriff Berdnik

Wall of Silence Erected to Help Re-Election Bid

The Passaic County Sheriff’s Department is withholding public information to protect Sheriff Richard Berdnik in his bid for re-election in November, charged Republican sheriff candidate Darren Woolridge.

Woolridge said his team filed requests for government records in mid-September and the county responded by saying they documents will be unavailable until October 18 at the earliest. Normally, requests for public records under the Open Public Records Act are met within seven business days.

“This is nothing less than a blatant attempt to delay the release of information that is damaging to Sheriff Berdnik. The county wants to keep the public from getting information on how he runs the department,” said Woolridge, a former sheriff’s officer, who now operates a martial arts school.

“What is Sheriff Berdnik afraid that the public will see? Is he afraid that the public will find out how he’s wasting money and how ineffective his department has become?”

Woolridge says Berdnik has increased payroll by more than $13.1 million and increased money for street patrols, but Woolridge says there seem to be fewer sheriff’s officer patrolling the streets.  Jail Medical costs increased $3 million from 2011 to $5 million in 2019 – even though there are fewer inmates in the jail.

“The Sheriff’s Department should be doing more to use its considerable resources to help battle drugs and violent crime in Passaic County. I don’t see that Sheriff Berdnik is committed to doing that – but I certainly will be,” said Woolridge

Among the public records sought by Woolridge and so far, denied by the county are:

• A list of employees of the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department and their current salaries.
• A list of employees hired by the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department from January 1, 2015 through September 19, 2019 and their salaries.
• The number of new vehicles purchased by the Sheriff’s Department since 2015
• Reports on the number of arrests by the Sheriff’s Department’s Patrol Division.
• The number of Sheriff’s Officers currently assigned to department’s Patrol Division.
• The number of officers assigned to the Sheriff’s Department’s “gang unit.”
• An accounting of the money taken in and expended in the sheriff’s department forfeiture fund

The county refused to hand over the information in a timely manner claiming it would cause a “disruption in agency operations”

“That’s just an absolutely nonsensical response,” said Woolridge. The information we are seeking should be available in a few key strokes on the computer keyboard. How does he sheriff not have at his disposal a list of employees and salaries or a report on the arrests his department has made?

“If that excuse for failing to turn over information is true, it paints a horrifying picture of how inept the department has become under Mr. Berdnik,” said Woolridge.