To the editor: Captain David Hardin was asked to make a choice by Chief Paul Costello. What’s more important to you, your job or your family? He replied as most of us would (or should), My family. This conversation between Chief Costello and Captain Hardin sums up the tension between the two officers of the West Milford Police Department. As the family of Captain David Hardin, we have felt that it was time to speak out against the allegations that have been coming against our father. Some residents of West Milford have been curious about recent current events because they feel that charges brought against Captain Hardin are out of character. We would like to shed some light on the accusation that our father violated family leave. Our father applied for Family Leave in June of 2006 in order to care for our maternal grandfather, James Davis. James had been sick with bone cancer for a while, and had recently become bed-ridden. Realizing that he would need assistance with his hygienic needs, and wanting to retain his dignity, our grandfather requested that our father take care of him. Captain Hardin’s application for family leave was a request that he begin his work day at 10 a.m., rather than the expected 7 a.m. reporting time so that he could tend to the needs of his father-in-law, and recover from the sometimes very late nights he would spend on call caring for him. The town manager granted the request. Captain Hardin was told that the hours he was taking in the morning would be counted against his accumulated vacation time. While caring for James, Captain Hardin developed a condition, very similar to tendonitis in his arm called “cradle arm.” This condition occurs in people caring for bed-ridden patients because they are constantly moving around and lifting what some would refer to as “dead weight.” “Because of my dad’s condition, I spent 2-3 weeks on call with him because he could not care for my grandfather by himself. Many times he would call me multiple times during the night to care for my grandfather. In fact, I remember one night where I was called at least 4 times during the course of the evening between the hours of 6PM and 3:30 a.m.,” said Dave, the eldest son of Captain Hardin. The counts of insubordination brought against our father have to do with physical therapy appointments that he made for the aforementioned condition. Our father was notified that Chief Costello had changed the time of his appointments. He felt that the chief had no right to do so, so he changed them back. The write up on these charges can be viewed at www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/Hardin.pdf, pages 38-43. Our grandfather passed away Aug. 8, 2006. Chief Costello, along with two other members of the West MilfordPD showed up at the wake, where the Chief told our mother that if there was anything that he could do, she should just ask. A few weeks later, in September of 2006, our father was served with papers that stated that he was being charged with violation of family leave because he had regularly attended mass and had breakfast early in the morning before reporting to our grandparents’ household. Chief Costello had had our father followed by two officers from June to August of 2006 while he was caring for our grandfather. Apparently it is more important to authorize the overtime for the investigation of one of West Milford’s most respected officers, rather than to find a more appropriate use of the tax payers’ money. Chief Costello even had the audacity to bring these charges to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s office, where he tried to have our father charged criminally for the same offense. The prosecutor’s office turned Costello away. The consequences of this action are severe. If an officer of the law is found guilty of a criminal offense, he/she loses his/her pension. We believe that Chief Costello was trying to strong arm Captain Hardin out of the department by threatening his pension. Until Costello’s appointment to the Chief’s position in June of 2005, Captain Hardin had outranked Costello. It is interesting to note that we had heard our father talking often about retiring, and had heard him say that he was planning on putting in his papers after the passing of our grandfather. Unfortunately our father’s plans for retirement have been delayed, due to the charges brought against him by his superior officer, and the administrative actions that the Chief has taken against him within the police department. Our father is a good man. He is a man who has served his country in Vietnam as a Lance Corporal in the Marines, served the Township of West Milford in an exemplary fashion for over 25 years as a patrolman, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain, and served his family as loving husband, father, brother, son, and son-in-law. He deserves to be able to retire with dignity, rather than have his reputation dragged through the mud. Dennis Dalelio on behalf of the Hardin Family