PATERSON - The majority of the city's 500 police officers will have to complete their firearm recertification in the next three days, or they risk losing their right to carry firearms.
All police forces in the state are required to report twice a year for the recertification test, but Paterson's force missed its deadline in December because the department's shooting range has been closed for repairs since September.
"The attorney general received information [Thursday] that because the Paterson Police Department firing range had been under renovation, they had not been able to qualify," said David Wald, spokesman for Attorney General Anne Milgram.
Milgram notified Mayor Joey Torres on Thursday that the officers would have to be recertified immediately, and the Police Department reopened the firing range that night and started a rushed recertification process.
The force's recertification efforts normally take two months, said Detective Lt. Anthony Traina, Police Department spokesman, but it's now being undertaken over three days, with officers reporting all weekend for the test.
Councilman Aslon Goow, who heads the Public Safety Committee, was outraged that the firing range was not up to code.
"Since I've been on the Public Safety Committee, we've been pumping money into that range," Goow said. "We have to call for an independent investigation, and we have to call an auditor in, because we're being misinformed."
Goow said the council was recently informed that the range in the public safety complex on Broadway was up and running, and that public safety officials described it as a "state-of-the-art facility."
Several contracts were approved in the past few years for enhancements to the 30-year-old pistol range, in amounts ranging from $19,000 to $54,000.
Paterson Police Director Michael Walker said that about $250,000 had been invested in the range over the past few years, but that it was out of commission after a steel deflector plate on the ceiling came loose.
Police had to hire a company to replace it and to install lights, which delayed the reopening.
The Attorney General's Office has assigned two staffers to monitor the recertification and ensure that it is done within a time frame agreed to by Torres. Both the mayor and the attorney general were optimistic that the recertifications could be completed on time.
To satisfy the attorney general's order, the Police Department asked that officers report to one of two firing ranges to complete the target practice so they could be recertified. Some were at the department's range in the public safety complex, and others were using the facilities at Paterson Gunsmithing on Main Street, which are open to the public.
Torres said the Passaic County range, operated by the sheriff's office, was not made available.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Bill Maer said the county range is currently closed for maintenance and lead removal, but that the department has never denied access to its pistol range.
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