Pursues Another Termination of Employment for Latest Infraction & Will Install GPS Systems in City Vehicles

JERSEY CITY – With only ten days into office, Mayor Steven M. Fulop is quickly learning and aggressively pushing to change the culture of City Hall employees with termination charges for any employee violating policy and breaking the law.

Last week, Jersey City Police Detective William Kallert was charged with DWI and was immediately suspended without pay after he was found intoxicated in an unmarked police vehicle he was not authorized to use after hours.  This was followed by yesterday’s incident in which a DPW manager was arrested on charges of soliciting a prostitute while in a city vehicle he was also not authorized to use after work hours.

The employee, George Reyes, is facing termination as a result of the arrest.

“This is the second time in just one week that a city employee has committed a crime while using a city vehicle without authorization, which speaks to the pervasive culture of abuse that has been allowed to exist in Jersey City,” said Mayor Fulop.  “This is unacceptable and we are going to root out this type of behavior and put an end to it.  We will not tolerate this.” 

According to police, Reyes, 47, of North Arlington, was observed picking up a known prostitute in a marked DPW vehicle on Danforth and Ocean Avenues just after 6 p.m.  He was charged with wandering and prowling for the purpose of engaging in prostitution and unlawful taking of means of conveyance.

“As I said before, my administration will have a zero tolerance policy for this kind of conduct and we will pursue all possible charges in this situation with zero leniency,” said Mayor Fulop.  “My expectation is that all city employees will be role models both on and off duty and clearly this was not the case tonight. We will deal with this incident both aggressively and fairly.”