TRENTON, NJ -  About 25 Mercer County corrections officers showed up at the county freeholder meeting last night demanding immediate action to increase their ranks. The officers said they are forced to work ridiculous hours because there aren't enough officers to fill shifts left open by those on vacation, on leave or taking a sick day.

Attorney Stuart Alterman, who is representing the roughly 235 rank-and-file officers and the 40 superior officers in PBA Local 167, said in his eight years of representing the bargaining unit, "I have never seen the manpower shortage at such a critical level."

Alterman said the shortage creates a dangerous situation because control rooms and posts "are being shut down" for lack of staff.

"This needs to be rectified immediately," he said. "Officers are working 80 hours a week. It's beyond reasonable. It's beyond acceptable."

County administration officials said they are taking the situation very seriously and are working to hire additional officers as quickly as state hiring procedures permit.

"There has been an unprecedented flow of resources into corrections by this administration," said Business Administrator Andrew Mair.

He said the county is moving forward with hiring procedures as soon as candidates become available, instead of waiting for large groups.

County personnel director Victoria Rivera-Cruz said 16 new officers are in or near the pre-employment testing phase of the hiring process.

Both Alterman and the administration agreed that staffing shortages are exacerbated when any of the roughly 900 inmates and jailed suspects at the Hopewell Township facility are transported to a hospital for medical care. Each detainee must be accompanied by two officers. Mair said the administration is discussing with a hospital the possibility of creating a secure wing to reduce manpower needs.

Freeholder Keith Hamilton said video conferences among doctors and prison staff might reduce the need to transport inmates and detainees.

Lt. Marvin James, a Trenton resident and president of the prison's superior officers association, said staffing shortages are putting the health and safety of officers at risk. He said he could foresee a situation where inmates might try to take over a part of the facility.

"We're at a point where we're going to have to go to a judge to close this down until we get it staffed right," James said.

Freeholder Pasquale Colavita described the situation as "an overwhelming problem. It took months and years to get to this, and it will not be solved overnight. But know that we are taking this seriously."

Donald Ryland, president of the bargaining unit for the rank-and-file officers, said his members are getting impatient with promises.

"We know things take time, but some things have to happen immediately," Ryland said. "A jail can be taken over with full staffing," implying that one understaffed with overtired officers is even more vulnerable.

Maier suggested the union and the administration sit down with a representative of a federal mediation service to keep lines of communication open and to keep everyone working together to solve the problems.

Alterman acknowledged that there have been instances of officers calling in sick when they were not ill. "But sometimes they have to," he said. "It's the only way to get time off."