FORT LEE — A Palisades Park police officer arrested last year on drug and weapons charges was arrested again last week for possession of cocaine and other drugs, according to arrest records.

Richard Giacobone, 40, of Fort Lee, was arrested by Officer Dean Mirkovic of the Fort Lee police on Dec. 10 after a narcotics investigation and motor vehicle stop, records show. Few other details of the arrest have been made public.

"It's a sad and unfortunate situation, but something that needs to be dealt with," Chris Chung, Palisades Park's mayor-elect, said Wednesday night. "We are looking to follow attorney general guidelines. That's all we can do at this point."

Palisades Park officials said Thursday that Giacobone has been suspended without pay from the borough police department since his first arrest in November 2017, which is when Fort Lee police and officers from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office raided his Summit Avenue home and said they found anabolic steroids, cocaine, marijuana and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

A Superior Court judge dismissed those charges without prejudice in August, court officials said.

Authorities charged Giacobone last week with one count of cocaine possession, two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance in the form of several types of pills and one count of drug paraphernalia possession.

He is scheduled to appear in Fort Lee Municipal Court on Jan. 8.

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Mark Jackson, Palisades Park's Police Chief, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Giacobone could not be reached for comment, nor could his attorney.

Neither Keith Bendul, Fort Lee's Police Chief, nor the Bergen County Prosecutor's office responded to a request for comment.

David Lorenzo, the borough administrator, said in an email that he was unaware that Giacobone's 2017 charges had been dismissed — the borough is still waiting for a response or disposition from either the court or Jackson, he said.

The borough has not otherwise disciplined Giacobone, Lorenzo said.

Giacobone served for nine years as a New Milford police officer before Palisades Park hired him in November 2015.

The Record and NorthJersey.com previously reported Giacobone appears to have been hired by the borough before he applied for a job with Palisades Park, according to public records.

Giacobone's arrest comes as the borough is looking to hire a civilian police director amid scrutiny of Jackson's handling of a recently-discontinued school security program.

The chief failed to conduct background checks, get approval from the state Department of Education, consult the superintendent on the hiring of school security guards and provide proof of training for the officers who were stationed in the schools for nearly four months, said a postmortem report commissioned by the school board.

The borough posted a job listing for the director position Nov. 24.

The Palisades Park Police Department currently has 15 high-ranking members and 18 patrol officers.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com