Policing - Ledger - Newark settling over James' firing of police director Rankin

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Published in the Star Ledger, Thursday, June 1, 2006

City settling ex-police leader's suit
James team agrees to pay $400K for firing him and his deputy

Thursday, June 01, 2006

BY JONATHAN SCHUPPE
Star-Ledger Staff

A two-year battle between former Police Director Robert Rankin and Newark Mayor Sharpe James over Rankin's firing may soon be resolved.

In documents submitted to the city clerk last week, the James administration says it will pay Rankin $220,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing the mayor of illegally firing him in 2004. Rankin's former deputy, James Nelson, would get another $150,000 for his subsequent firing, and their lawyer $30,000.

The settlement still needs to be approved by the city council.

The feud between the two reached a crescendo on April 17, during the city's mayoral campaign. James, who chose not to run for re-election, took the microphone at a police graduation ceremony and said he fired Rankin for "locking himself in the office" and "drinking on the job."

Speaking at Good Neighbor Baptist Church, James also accused Mayor-elect Cory Booker of planning to put Rankin back as the city's top cop.

Booker, who takes office July 1, said that although Rankin was one of his supporters, he plans to do a nationwide search for a new police director.

Rankin's lawsuit, meanwhile, was headed to trial. But just before it was supposed to start, the two sides agreed to settle.

The terms of the settlement were outlined in a May 23 memo by Corporation Counsel JoAnne Wat son asking City Clerk Robert Marasco to put the $400,000 spending request before the city council. The clerk has tentatively put the item on the June 7 agenda.

The James administration had no comment yesterday.

Rankin also declined to talk about the deal, as did his lawyer, Rubin Sinins.

Until his church tirade, James had said he fired Rankin because his crime-fighting strategies weren't aggressive enough, and be cause residents were complaining about a lack of police presence.

Rankin, a career cop who held nearly every position in the Newark Police Department, said in his lawsuit that James tried to interfere with the administration of his du ties, and fired him after he resisted. The firing came after Rankin redeployed 100 officers despite orders from James not to reassign anyone, according to the lawsuit.

Rankin, who earned an annual salary of $140,786, also alleged that James fired him illegally because he was not notified of James' intent to remove him, and was never given a hearing.

Nelson, who was Rankin's deputy police chief, said he was demoted, then fired, because he agreed with Rankin's plan to put more officers on the street.

James denied the charges.

Jonathan Schuppe covers Newark. He may be reached at jschup pe@starledger.com or (973) 392-7960.

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