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Port Authority Police officers patrolling the George Washington Bridge during the September 2013 lane closures were told to keep their concerns about traffic to themselves, according to a memo summarizing the officers accounts.

(Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger)

FORT LEE — Port Authority police officers working at the George Washington Bridge last September say they were told by superiors to keep quiet after expressing concern that closing local access lanes would snarl traffic, according to a summary of the officers' accounts.

In one case, according to the summary, a veteran officer who reported over his police radio that the closing of two of three access lanes was creating a hazardous condition and asked that the lanes be reopened was told by a supervisor to "shut up," then visited at his post and told his radio comments had been inappropriate.

The officers’ accounts were summarized in a memorandum prepared by Michael W. Khoo, a lawyer for the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation, a joint Senate-Assembly panel convened in January to investigate the lane closings and other Port Authority matters.

The contents of the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Star-Ledger, were culled from a conference call involving Khoo; Reid Schar, a lawyer for the investigative committee; and Daniel Bibb, a lawyer hired by the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association to represent the officers in the investigation of the controversial closings.

The existence of the document was first reported on the Record website, northersey.com. A Port Authority spokesman declined to comment on the memo, and neither Bibb nor Khoo returned calls.

One account that was summarized had originated with Officer Steve Pisciotta, a 12-year veteran of the department who was assigned to the bridge for five years.

The memo says: "On Tuesday, September 10, 2013, while stationed at the corner of Bruce Reynolds Boulevard and Martha Washington Way, he used police radio to report that the severe traffic was creating hazardous conditions. He further requested that the cones come down and that the Fort Lee lanes be reopened."

According to the memo: "Deputy Inspector Darcy Licorish replied to Pisciotta by radio, telling him to ‘shut up’ and that there could be no further discussion of the lane closures over the air. Pisciotta also recalls that Lt. Michaels and Sgt. Rhem visited him in person at his post to tell him that his radio communication had been inappropriate."

Ironically, Michaels' and Licorish's names appeared in connection with the lane closings in subpoenaed documents released in January. A Sept. 8 email exchange revealed both had knowledge of the closings at least a day in advance, and that both expressed concern.

"Will this affect our normal rush hour operation?" Michaels emailed Licorish.

"Most likely. Concerns were made to no aval (sic) locally," Licorish said.

Several Port Authority police officers reported seeing Lt. Thomas "Chip" Michaels — an officer on the force who grew up in Livingston with Gov. Chris Christie and David Wildstein, an executive at the agency — driving Wildstein around the borough’s snarled streets, conduct that is the subject of an internal review.

Neither Christie’s office nor the Port Authority immediately responded to requests for comment.

The controversy surrounding the lane closings, on Sept. 9-13, and other Port Authority matters is being looked into by the legislative panel as well as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The lane closings were ordered by Wildstein after he received an email from Bridget Kelly, a deputy chief off staff to Christie. The email surfaced in January, and a law firm hired by Christie to review the matter said the governor had no advance knowledge of the closings.

Officers on the morning shift at the bridge were told during roll call on a Monday that the lanes were being closed for a traffic study and that cones used to squeeze the normal three access lanes into one should not be moved, according to the memo.

The memo also said what Democrats have been claiming for months — that several officers had heard the closings were the result of a political dispute between Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee, a Democrat, and the Republican governor, who was seeking an endorsement for his re-election.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), co-chairman of the investigative panel, said in an a interview that the accounts summarized in the memo parallel previous testimony from Port Authority officials, who said under oath that they knew about the lane closings but kept quiet out of fear.

"There seems to be a pattern of people who see things that are wrong and were either told to be quiet or knew they should be quiet," Wisniewski said. "That pattern is troubling at an agency as large as the Port Authority."

Wisniewski said his committee, which hasn’t held a public hearing in more than a month, might look into the matter.

"The fact we haven’t had public hearings should not be interpreted as the committee no longer looking into the issue," he said. "We are doing things behind the scenes, the kind of work that is not often reported on the evening news but is adding to information we are collecting."

A spokesman for the Police Benevolent Association, Robert Egbert, said hiring Bibb was not an unusual move.

"In this case, you have police officers being asked to come in and to discuss what they may or may not know about a situation, and in a case like that you would want to have representation," Egbert said.

Egbert said he could not comment on whether the officers had been supoenaed by the legislative panel or anyone else investigating the lane closings.

But he said, "every member of the PBA who has been subpoenaed, asked to tesitify or somehow involved in the different investigations has cooperated fully."

Star-Ledger staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

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