Union City Mayor Brian Stack took the stand Thursday during the trial of retired Police Officer Juan Estrella, denying the main allegation of the case: That the officer was not promoted to sergeant in 2022 due to his Dominican heritage.
Instagram photo.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
For around two-and-half hours, granted with many interruptions, Stack – also the state senator of the 33rd Legislative District – was grilled by plaintiff attorney Ernest Ianetti before defense attorney Phillip Morrow had a much briefer line of questioning.
Ianetti began by having Stack describe his duties as mayor and director of public safety t0 which Stack said that as director, he was responsible for duties including setting policy and orchestrating community meetings.
“It would be setting policy, as director of public safety, so passing ordinances. Each commissioner serves a different department and we set laws,” Stack stated.
He continued that he was not advised in the creation of the police manual, of which the latest iteration was put out in 2015, indicating that was the duty of the chief of police.
Stack said he was somewhat familiar with the police manual, but affirmed to Ianetti after an overruled objection by Morrow that he was not familiar with the practice of evaluating officers through performance reviews, again noting that was the job of the police chief.
Responding to Ianetti, Stack stated that the purpose of annual performance evaluations are to assess how officers in the department are doing their job.
The mayor testified that he agreed the performance evaluations provide more value to the department “than just some paper that goes into the file,” with Stack noting it was something to be referenced and reviewed by the police chief for various purposes.
When asked if he set the policy regarding annual performance evaluations as director of public safety, Stack told Ianetti it was done in coordination with the police chief, later adding that policy is not finalized without his approval.
Next, Stack told Ianetti he was familiar with the discipline process, describing his involvement in the matter: “I rely on the internal affairs committee.”
When asked if he reviews discipline and other documents brought before him by the internal affairs committee and others, Stack said he “tries to review” the documents.
When pushed by Ianetti if he would sign off on a recommendation for discipline without reviewing it himself, Stack replied “I review it myself, absolutely.”
Stack confirmed that he would sign documents including final notice of discipline, which he said the investigator’s report would be a sheet attached to the notice explaining the sustained charges and nothing else.
In the next line of questioning, Ianetti had Stack confirm his duties as public safety director include reviewing and approving the appointment or the promotion of officers.
Stack testified that the document he signs to finalize promotions did not contain any information about the officers’ qualifications to be promoted, stating it was just a list of names.
When asked how he would determine if he would sign the document authorizing the promotions, Stack said it was because he was satisfied that the list was composed of officers who passed the exam and that the civil service list of officers eligible for promotion was provided by the state.
“It’s given to me by the Department of Personnel. That’s the state department, not the police department,” he clarified.
Stack said that when he receives the final notice of disciplinary actions, those are recommended to him by the chief of police, and he would subsequently read them.
He also noted that he relies on the recommendations of the police chief, who he stipulated would have reviewed that information before bringing forth officers to promote.
According to Stack, he told Ianetti that while he speaks to the police chief on a daily basis, he doesn’t recall conversations with any chief about whether an officers disciplinary history reflects on their ability to supervise, though he could if he thought there was a need.
Stack said that the police chief should look at the overall performance of the officers capabilities before they receive a recommendation for promotion, to which Ianetti had Stack confirm the chief should look at performance evaluations, among other information.
Responding to Ianetti, Stack said that he never asked his police chiefs if they were actually doing that, he just believed they were.
When asked if he never used his authority to ask the police chief to formally review performance reviews and other personnel documents in making their promotion decisions – not just discipline as Luster previously testified – Stack said he had not.
According to Stack, he wouldn’t want to do that as he sees himself in a supervisor role as the director of public safety, while the chief runs “day-to-day operations.”
He also denied ever rejecting a recommendation to promote by the police chief, and that they are brought to Stack to sign off on an as needed based on the civil service list.
Stack also said if a chief came to him recommending to bypass a promotion, he would rely on their recommendation from the chief without further examination.
However, Stack continued it would be inconsistent with his expectations for the chief if they did not look at the totality of the officer when making a bypass recommendation.
Ianetti insisted that Luster did not evaluate Estrella in his totality, adding that she didn’t consult any supervisors about her decision, to which Stack said he was not sure what she looked at in making her decision.
“I would believe that she would look at everything,” Stack said.
He affirmed Luster wanted to bypass Estrella because of a disciplinary issue, but couldn’t recall specifics other than Estrella had an “extensive” disciplinary history, that Luster gave him examples of said history, and that she was “very firm” about him not becoming a supervisor.
Stack apparently had multiple conversations with Luster about this, and after the first, he asked her to reconsider her bypass of Estrella, having known him and his family for years, but she remained steadfast.
According to Stack, he wanted her to promote officer Estrella, but didn’t ask Luster to look at officer performance evaluations or if she asked his supervisors for input.
When discussing Stack’s relation to Lt. Glenn Gaston, he testified that he doesn’t recall if he knew Gaston from high school, but that could be a possibility.
Stack said Gaston could have attended some of his civic events, but he wasn’t sure because a lot of people frequent his engagements.
“I’m very fortunate to have a lot of people that come,” Stack noted, later denying he was aware of past or current knowledge that Gaston was significantly disciplined early in his career.
Ianetti then presented Stack with a final notice of discipline from 1993, which predated his tenure as director of public safety – which began in 2000.
Stack agreed that the sustained charges listed in the document were serious offenses.
Ianetti then presented a promotion document signed by Stack in 2004, containing the name of Gaston, to which Stack confirmed he signed off on the promotion from patrol officer to the rank of sergeant.
When asked if he was aware of the discipline document from 1993 when approving Gaston’s promotion in 2004, Stack said “it was a long time ago” and reiterated he relied on the chief’s recommendations for promotions. At that time the chief was Charles Everett.
The line of questioning from Ianetti was virtually identical for retired Sgt. Ruben Rodriguez, Police Officers Richard Perez, Hernan Lenis – accused of domestic violence – Patricia Lazzarini – who was arrested for assault off-duty – and retired Sgt. Sergio DeRojas – accused of sexual harassment – among others.
Stack said in some instances that the infractions were years prior to their promotions, and again repeated that he relied on the recommendations of the police chief when the department decided who to promote.
Concluding this line of questioning, Ianetti asked if any police chief spoke to Stack, at any time, about officers’ disciplinary records when discussing promotions, Stack said: “Not that I could remember.”
Given that, Ianetti questioned Stack why Luster was so adamant about discipline playing a role in the rejection of Estrella’s promotion to sergeant, to which Stack said he didn’t have any idea.
“Every chief was different when it came to discipline and the work. Running the department, she had her own style,” replied Stack.
Ianetti posited that, based on Stack’s prior testimony, each police chief was consistent in not looking at discipline when recommending promotions.
He repeated that he was only looking at discipline when signing final notices of disciplinary action and not promotions.
Ianetti still contended that Estrella was the lone exception to having discipline considered during promotions, to which Stack said discipline was not discussed during promotions, but only when the notice was signed.
However, Ianetti contrasted that Luster was adamant during her testimony that his discipline was a major consideration in his lack of promotion, despite that standard not applying to others, who were also not Dominican.
As Morrow took over questioning, Stack testified that the public safety department is the largest department in the city but that he, as director, does not run the Union City PD.
“No, in no circumstances, It’s actually considered part-time,” he noted.
According to Morrow, part of his duties is the direct examination of civil service documents for promotion and discipline and subsequently signs off on them. However, the director of public safety is not involved in the day-to-day.
Noting he has been mayor for 26 years, Morrow had Stack confirm constituents “predominantly” communicate with him through phone calls, totaling around 400 a day, he estimated.
That’s not including hundreds of e-mails, Stack said he receives a nearly two-foot tall stack of written correspondence on his desk each day.
Asserting Stack has a busy schedule dealing with constituents, Morrow had Stack affirm that he relies on the police chief to run the “day-to-day operations” of the police department- with seven chiefs throughout his tenure as mayor.
He told Morrow police chiefs are promoted from captains, with each chief averaging about 20 years on the force before ascending to the position.
According to Stack, “every single chief in the City of Union City came up through the ranks,” starting as patrol officers and climbing the ladder.
After a short recess, Ianetti returned to question Stack further, starting on the topic of if he was involved in efforts to recruit new officers to the police department.
Stack said that over the years, he has alerted the community of the police exam to encourage interested community members, and at one point before the COVID-19 pandemic, the city offered classes for individuals to take to prepare for the police exam.
This included preparatory courses at Union City High School.
According to Stack, the purpose of the recruitment efforts focusing on Union City residents is because he wanted to ensure members of the community to police officers so the majority of the community is involved with the police department.
Ianetti then presented Stack with a document entitled “Promoting diversity and recruiting in hiring program,” which he described as a “snapshot of the community and of the police department.”
Responding directly to the claims of discrimination brought forth in the lawsuit, Stack told Ianetti that national origin did not factor into decision making, including for promotions, at any point during his tenure as mayor and/or public safety director.
When asked how he vets police chiefs, Stack said he looks at their experience and trusts that when he gives them that “honor, they will follow his standards for promotion including the “totality of your standards,” to which Stack agreed.
Responding to Ianetti, Stack agreed that if Luster “did not look at his totality of Officer Estrella,” that was not consistent with the expectations he has of police chiefs.
Although he has been mayor for 26 years and Public Safety Director for 22, Stack acknowledged that he had no law enforcement experience otherwise, later adding he would would review the chief’s recommendations for police promotions and approve them.
“I rely on the recommendation of the chief,” Stack said.
When Ianetti hit Stack with the allegation that he “abandons his ability to review the recommendations” and blindly follows the police chief, Stack replied “I don’t see that.”
However, when it came to Estrella, Stack stuck to his guns of siding with his police chief: “I followed the recommendations of the chief, as I’ve always done. I don’t see that, again.”
When asked what review work he did, or to even describe one single act that he did, and even wagered he did nothing, Stack did not directly respond.
“I followed the recommendation of the chief as I’ve done since I became the director of public safety,” Stack said.
Just before concluding, Stack said that he couldn’t remember ever rejecting a chief’s recommendation for suspension or promotions.
The trial is will not resume until August 31st, where current Police Chief Walter Laurencio is scheduled to take the stand.