Three officers were promoted this week, but the local police union has questions in at least one case.

Sgt. Wayne Nelson was promoted to lieutenant bilingual, Sgt. William Mazur become lieutenant and Patrolman Ernesto Del Valle Jr. became sergeant bilingual.

Mayor Lorenzo Langford swore the men in Wednesday. But PBA Local 24 questioned the validity of the promotion to lieutenant bilingual because the testing for the promotional list has not been completed.

"None of the candidates has taken the second portion of the exam, which assesses the candidate's bilingual abilities," PBA President Curtis Williams said.

A spokeswoman at the Department of Personnel, which approves the promotional lists, confirmed that none of the bilingual candidates had taken the second portion of the test.

"When someone tests for the position, they are not tested at that time for a bilingual capacity," spokeswoman Janeen Lawlor explained. For example, someone taking the sergeant's exam would check a box indicating they are bilingual, then they would take that test when the city indicates a bilingual position needs to be filled.

Williams said he has received complaints from union members and wonders what will happen if the promoted officer does not pass the bilingual test. This promotion "may eventually result in this newly promoted lieutenant being returned to the rank of sergeant," he said.

"We've been working with Atlantic City human resources on this," Lawlor said. "We have advised them the permanent promotion cannot be made until the bilingual test is taken."

The test includes a written and oral exam, she said.

Business Administrator Ben Fitzgerald confirmed that the promotion was "provisional."

"The mayor is enthusiastic about the addition of a bilingual police officer, a bilingual sergeant and a bilingual lieutenant," he said.

He acknowledged that there were nine police officers that took the title of bilingual sergeant but failed the language aptitude test.

"We would encourage them to continue their studies in Spanish and take the test again," Fitzgerald said.

"Once again, the city administration and the mayor have chosen to make up the rules as they go along in a blatant effort to circumvent the established rules of the Department of Personnel," Williams said. He added that the PBA is aware that not everyone in the administration agrees with what took place.

Fitzgerald said the message the administration is trying to convey is that officers and the department benefit by speaking English and Spanish.

"Atlantic City is 25 percent Hispanic and we can't ignore that," he said. "The mayor would like to expand this program, not eliminate it."

"Promotions are a policy and prerogative of the mayor, and we don't comment on that," police spokesman Lt. Michael Tullio said.

The city also swore in 19 new officers Sept. 1. Two - Chris Cavaretta and Frank Ingargiola - were officers in other cities and are training on the street. The remaining recruits are attending the Cape May County Police Academy.

Attending the academy are: Carolyn Boone, Jeffrey Braasch, Brandon Burkley, Peter Calabrese, Andre Corbin, Daniel Corcoran, Christian Garafalo, Jose Gonzalez, Charles Heintz, James Herbert, Brian Hurley, Omar Martin, William Moore, Thomas Moynihan, Brian Shapiro, Joshua Vadell and Patrick Yarrow.

To e-mail Lynda Cohen at The Press:

LCohen@pressofac.com