Pat Papero (left) was
named Mercer County
Sheriff s Offi cers Local 187
2017 Offi cer of the Year.
A PERC for Papero
Mercer County Sheriffs Offi cers State Delegate
takes on new vital role for the PBA
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
When the State PBA put out a call to work
its mass phone bank on Election Day 2015
in Woodbridge, members scrambled to re-
spond. Among those was Mercer County
Sheriffs Officers Local 187 State Delegate
Pat Papero, who brought his kids with him
on this day off from school. They even
formed their own phone bank unit.
Papero has become one of those foxhole
guys for the NJ State PBA, a member who
answers every call with unconditional de-
sire. He comes to the annual collective bar-
gaining seminar every year because there
are always a few new nuggets of informa-
tion that he can bring back to help Local
187 and Mercer County Conference mem-
bers. He has established a spot in that vital
foxhole known as the PBA’s Collective Bar-
gaining Committee, processing the reams
of data each year that lead to elevating sal-
aries and benefits for members throughout
the state.
Now, Papero has answered perhaps his
most important, dedicated and detail-
oriented assignment ever for the PBA as its
newly named member to the Public Em-
ployee Relations Committee (PERC). He is
diving into that role of reviewing cases and
disputes that come to PERC from all labor
unions throughout New Jersey, with a new
pair of reading glasses and his standard re-
lentless fortitude to represent on behalf of
PBA members.
“I know it’s an important position, not
only for our union, but for all unions to
have a voice on that commission,” Papero
reported. “I’m ready to bring an open mind
and dedication. I know it’s a lot of work, but
I’m not afraid of the work to make sure the
unions are properly represented.”
50
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ OCTOBER 2018
Pat Papero (center) works the PBA’s phone bank
in 2015 with the help of his children.
Much of the work is preparing for the
monthly PERC meetings by reviewing each
case that is going to be heard. A week be-
fore each meeting, Papero will get a box
from UPS with the documents for each
case. Some are a few pages; some are hun-
dreds of pages.
Papero is the first PBA member to sit on
the commission since Governor Corzine
appointed Pat Colligan at the recommen-
dation of PBA President Tony Wieners. Col-
ligan served PERC until he spoke out about
a member of the Christie administration,
and the governor dismissed him from the
commission.
Labor holds two seats on the commis-
sion, and when one opened up this year,
President Colligan moved to have a PBA
member appointed. He called Papero in
May to take on the assignment, offered him
a pair of reading glasses to handle the pa-
perwork and knew he was the right mem-
ber for the job.
“We needed somebody who was famil-
iar with labor,” Colligan commented. “Pat
has been there whenever we have asked
for something. There’s definitely a learning
curve, but he will do well. It’s prestigious
in that all the unions in the state are rep-
resented, and I know Pat will represent the
Papero serves with the Airport K9 unit.
PBA with the professionalism he brings to
everything he does.”
Professionalism has marked all of Pape-
ro’s endeavors serving the union and Mer-
cer County Sheriffs, where has worked for
16-plus years. His work as a member of the
Airport K9 unit earned Papero Local 187
Officer of the Year honors in 2017.
He is ready to handle the homework
required to serve PERC, even if it means
taking weekends and days off to complete
all the reading. It will take time because
Papero is known as somebody who takes
his time to think things through, and he is
pointed about making sure to consider all
the facts of all the cases. That is one of the
benefits of having a law enforcement offi-
cer on the commission.
Papero is not concerned about the extra
effort, especially if he can glean some ideas
and information that can be used to help
Local 187 and all PBA members. And if he
can pursue the prime objective that has al-
ways inspired his effort for the union.
“Making sure we are represented and
get treated fairly is a great concern,” Pap-
ero stated. “I realize that I’m going to have
more paperwork than I ever wished for.
When I told somebody that, he laughed
and said, ‘It’s worth it.’”