Gov. Chris Christie delivers his State of the State address in Trenton on Jan. 11.(File Photo)

TRENTON - In his first year, Gov. Chris Christie put the squeeze on police departments across the state but had his most prolonged and public battle with the state teachers union.

The Republican governor scolded, chided and criticized - and did so many times in front of a microphone.

And while education reform was still a focus of Christie's State of the State address earlier this month, it's clear that the former U.S. attorney also is putting another once-sacred employee base - the police and fire unions - into his cross hairs.

Asked at a New Jersey Press Media editorial board meeting late last year why public safety unions had so far escaped his fury, Christie coyly responded, "Stay tuned."

Christie later explained that his response referred to his longstanding goals of revamping police unions' arbitration processes and reforming the state's pension system with such changes as making police and fire employees put in more years of service to receive full pension benefits. Christie's office declined to elaborate on his plans for addressing police and fire unions for this article.

While most aren't expecting a battle with police unions to play out as viciously as the past year's with teachers, analysts and police union officials alike agree police and fire will share at least a portion of the governor's chopping block this year.

Although embattled by sweeping layoffs, police union leaders said they are watching the governor and are ready to stand up for themselves.

"We're definitely going to be monitoring the issues as they relate to pension reform and anything else regarding police officers and unions in general," said Derrick Hatcher, president of Newark's Fraternal Order of Police. "All we ask for is fair wages and benefits."

John Keefe, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations in New Brunswick, said he expects pension changes to be the biggest battle between the governor's office and police unions this year.

Last year, Christie proposed sweeping pension reform changes and made it clear in his recent State of the State address he would follow through on the initiative.

In September, Christie proposed increasing the years of service all state and municipal workers would need to be eligible for full retirement benefits. Currently, police officers can retire after 20 years with a pension at 50 percent of their salary and at 25 years with a full 65 percent.

Christie would change that to 60 percent after 25 years and 65 percent after 30 years. Christie also proposed increasing employees' contributions to their health insurance premiums to 30 percent.

In his State of the State address, Christie said changes to the state's underfunded pension system will benefit public safety employees themselves.

"I am not proposing pension and benefit reforms just to be tight-fisted," Christie said in his Jan. 14 speech. "I am proposing pension reform for the police officers who have served - and contributed - for years, but who may find nothing when they retire a decade from now."

While Christie's pension reform plans may be difficult to achieve, Keefe said the governor already has been successful in reforming police contracts with the recently approved arbitration cap. The cap limits police salary increases in arbitration cases to an average of 2 percent over a three-year period.

William Dressel, executive director of the League of Municipalities, said the arbitration reform will be a key to controlling property tax rates for municipalities. He said out-of-scale police contracts have been the number one reason taxes in the state are so high.

"What has happened over the years is that when unions and management reach an impasse, an arbitrator would come in and make an award that paid little respect or consideration to the municipality's financial condition," he said.

Another of Christie's longstanding goals has been to allow municipalities to opt out of civil service requirements. Civil service laws strictly regulate employment practices like hiring and firing.

Dressel said he is pleased to see proposed reforms that include the powerful public safety unions.

"If he's doing what I hear him saying he's going to do, then that's refreshing," Dressel said.

Dressel said unionized police officers have long had better benefits than other public employees in New Jersey. However, police officers contribute more to their pensions than other employees.

According to 2009 federal statistics, the $80,120 median salary of New Jersey's patrol and sheriff's officers is tops in the country.

"Fire and police were sacrosanct," Dressel said of cuts in years past. "They were never a part of the overall dynamic."

Assemblyman Domenick DiCicco, R-Gloucester, said he agrees that police and fire employees no longer can be exempted from state reforms.

"The bottom line is everyone has to be in the equation," DiCicco said. "The cost drivers are the cost drivers, and that includes public safety employees."

Police union members think they already have been decimated by the governor. They say decreased state aid to municipalities has contributed to layoffs in police departments across the state.

"There is only so much he can do," Steve Demofonte, legislative committee chairman for the state's Fraternal Order of Police, said of Christie. "He has already cut municipal aid and cost hundreds of officers across New Jersey."

Hatcher decried the mass layoffs in places like Camden and Newark as "absolutely wrong."

Christie has praised Camden Mayor Dana Redd for working to cut costs in Camden, which has perenially ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the nation.

Earlier this month, Redd laid off 168 officers, nearly half of the police force. The day of the layoffs, Redd criticized police and fire union leaders for not agreeing to givebacks.

"I can assure you that (the) layoffs did not occur because of a lack of effort on this administration's part," Redd said. "They occurred because police and fire decided to stay with the status quo."

The state's $69 million in special aid to Camden this year was tops in the state but still left the impoverished city with a $26.5 million budget gap. Christie made it clear there would be no additional rescue fund from the state to stave off the layoffs.

Jim Ryan, spokesman for the State's Policemen's Benevolent Association, said his organization believes 2010 will go down as the year with the largest decrease in municipal police officers in 20 years, with some 480 layoffs and more than 2,000 retirements.

"Our concern is that predictions call for an even more dramatic loss in 2011," Ryan said.

In addition to layoffs, union representatives said they now are watching to see exactly how Christie plans to cut their members' benefits through things like increased contributions to their health care costs and extended retirement eligibility.

"We're treading water as an organization right now, trying to maintain the benefits that have been earned over a century of bargaining in New Jersey, and he just wants to strip them away," Demofonte said. "There were compromises, and in his mind they don't account for anything other than a cost to the taxpayers."

Hatcher said Christie's proposal to extend retirement eligibility could have serious consequences because it would keep officers fatigued from years of service on the streets even longer.

"How much production would you get out of a senior officer just based on health issues," Hatcher said. "There's definitely a mental and physical strain that goes along with policing over the years."

Demofonte said unions definitely will fight for their benefits as well as to keep municipalities accountable to civil service regulations.

Without civil service, Demofonte said, police departments will be run by politicians and be mired in cronyism.

"We're supposed to go along with that?" Demofonte asked. "Not without a fight."

While police union leaders may be ready for a fight, experts believe it will be one that plays out behind the scenes, unlike Christie's fight with teachers unions.

Keefe said he doesn't expect Christie to wage a rhetorical battle with police unions. Union leaders, he said, will wage their war from inside the statehouse.

"So far they have kept their cool and they have stayed out of the politics in this publicly," Keefe said of police unions.

He said police and fire unions are unique in that officials largely try to depoliticize issues surrounding them. However, if the Christie administration verbally attacks police unions, Keefe said union leaders won't back away from a fight.

"They're not shrinking violets," Keefe said. "They have voices. They will make themselves heard."