Ebola scare raised overtime for New Jersey police

Some New Jersey Human Services police officers earned nearly $53,000 in overtime in little more than three weeks finding a place to isolate potential Ebola patients and guarding the empty hospital.

Information obtained by NJ.com through the Open Public Records Act shows police logged 953 hours for “emergency preparedness related to the Ebola Virus Disease.”

Human Services spokeswoman says 908 hours were paid at time-and-a-half.

Most of the hours were spent guarding Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Lebanon Township, where potential Ebola patients were to be quarantined. The site was not needed.

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Newark Liberty International Airport is one of five in the nation with flights from West Africa.

Nurse Kaci Hickox was quarantined at University Hospital as a precaution for three days in October after she arrived on a flight.

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