The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 23, Number 5 | Page 4

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | May 2017
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
CHIEF WILLIAM G. PARENTI
NORTH PLAINFIELD PD
Greetings all, as I mentioned at the April Chiefs briefing I am dedicating this month's article
to our Executive Director Mitch Sklar.
I thought it fitting on his 18 th Anniversary as
our Executive Director to highlight some of his accomplishments.
Mitch started with NJSACOP on April 12, 1999. The association should be very proud of what he has accomplished
for our organization. While most E-Board members thank Mitch, I did not feel they fully conveyed to our
membership all that he has done for our Association. Mitch has increased our role in the police community not
just in our state but also internationally. We have a prominent and positive reputation within New Jersey, the
United States, with the IACP, and in fact abroad (especially in our partner nations of Canada and Great Britain).
Finances
It appears that this is the most commented-upon aspect of Mitch’s tenure as Executive Director. Mitch never
looks at the organization’s financial resources as an end unto themselves, but rather as a means to ensure that
the Association is robust and effective, able to invest in innovative programs and services, absorb downturns in
the economy, and prepared for the long run. In that regard, we should be pleased that Mitch has been able to
exponentially increase the net worth and cash flow of the organization.
With Mitch at the helm, the president and vice presidents can focus on the platform laid out by the board and
the association’s membership each year. Additionally, it permits the E-Board’s full attention to the current
concerns/issues facing our Association, our fellow chiefs, law enforcement concerns throughout the state
and nation. Dealing with politicians, the press, legislators, the Attorney General, County, State and Federal
Prosecutors is a time consuming task. With Mitch in full control of the day to day operations of our Association
the e-board is free of the time consuming burdens of running the state office, budgeting, and dealing with the
staffs concerns, as Mitch sets the salary and benefits.
In March of 1999 when Mitch took over the combined accounts balance for the Association was $57,109,
plus approximately $50,000 in a Certificate of Deposit.
He was informed by staff that the organization
survived on receipt of advances on the Expo revenue each year. By way of comparison, the March 2017
Treasurer’s Report showed a combined accounts balance of $619,574, plus $223,471 in investment accounts,
$22,144 in the NJ Police Chiefs Foundation account, and $11,074 in the NJSACOP Command & Leadership
Alumni Association account. For a total of $876,260 now vs $57,109 when he took over. In 2001, the
Association’s total revenue was $1,108,430. The figure for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 is $2,565,318.
Mitch is also very concerned with every aspect of our association expenditures and has his finger on the pulse of
the current economic climate.
Mitch came to me last year with regard to his contract. He told me he
would like to take a zero percent increase for him and the staff. He said most chiefs have taken small or no
increases and he felt he needed to emulate the pain the chiefs are feeling.
By the end of the 1990s, the Association’s portfolio of programs and services consisted solely of the following:
 West Point Command & Leadership Program (Northern & Southern Sections)
 Contemporary Supervision Techniques course (for Sergeants)
 Policing Your Town and Safe Schools Symposiums (1 day seminars held on a rotating basis)
 Annual Conference and Police-Security Expo
 Annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service
Additionally, each month the Association printed (on the copier in the Office) an 8-page newsletter that was
mailed out to the Active and Retired members. In some years the Association conducted a golf outing, and an
annual yearbook magazine was printed. There was no website or official email address.
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