By: Joe Strupp Paper Asks State Attorney General To Intervene
The Record in Hackensack, N.J., has asked the state attorney general's office to intervene in a dispute with hometown Police Chief Charles "Ken" Zisa. Since May 14, The Record claims, Zisa has required the paper to wait 24 hours before receiving police reports.
The waiting period adheres to a 1997 governor's directive requiring police to turn over incident reports within 24 hours. Record editors contend Zisa is following the letter of the law to punish the paper for its coverage of the chief and his brother, Mayor Jack Zisa.
Neither Zisa returned calls seeking comment.
In a May 24 letter to the New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety, Record attorneys asked officials to order the police chief to stop the practice. Department spokeswoman Emily Hornaday said officials are trying to work out a solution.
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor for E&P.
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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