Municipalities Have Until Dec. 15 to Agree to Pay for State Police Patrols or Make Alternative Plans, but Statistical Data Crucial to the Decision-Making Has Been Unavailable from the State
Senator Phil Haines, Assemblywoman Dawn Marie Addiego and Assemblyman Scott Rudder have called on Gov. Corzine to assure that towns contending with the prospect of paying for State Police patrols are provided immediately with accurate data from the State Police.
“Towns in our district have been backed up against a wall and given a December 15 deadline to decide how police protection will be handled in 2009 and into the future,” said Senator Haines. “This is a major decision that will impact property taxpayers for years to come. Cuts in Rural Policing Aid will directly cause property tax increases, and the small window for decision-making is forcing towns to accept the State’s proposal as their only option.”
The towns that use State Police patrols have no later than December 15 to either make arrangements for their own police service or to contract with the Treasurer to pay for continued Trooper coverage.
“It is inexcusable for the state to be dragging its feet with this information. The December 15 deadline is arbitrary and unreasonable. Since critical information is not available, we are calling on the Governor to extend the deadline,” said Assemblyman Rudder.
Southampton, Shamong and Tabernacle, three towns in the 8th District, sent letters (click here to view letters) in August to the State Police requesting accurate call data and statistical data. To date, this information has not been received.
“You can’t build a police department overnight,” said Assemblywoman Addiego. “It is going to take time analyze data and consider options, but we can’t get the information necessary. It will take time to explore arrangements with police departments from nearby towns. It will take time to hire officers. But this is time that our towns don’t have with the December 15 deadline.”
The letter to Governor Corzine follows:
September 25, 2008
The Honorable Jon Corzine
Governor
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625-0001
Dear Governor Corzine:
We are writing to you today on behalf of Shamong, Tabernacle and Southampton, three municipalities in the 8th District. These communities were among the 89 towns in the state who are struggling to find a taxpayer friendly solution to your cuts to the State’s Rural Policing Program.
In order to find the most efficient solution to their newly created policing needs, these communities, through a grant provided by the Burlington Bridge Commission, are conducting a feasibility study to determine whether they need to share services and create a new police force or attempt to meet the December 15 deadline to contract with the State Treasurer for continued State Police coverage.
In an effort to move forward with the study and to provide a final determination, letters were submitted in mid-August to the New Jersey State Police requesting accurate call data and statistical data relative to police responses in their towns for the years 2005 to 2008.
To date, this information, crucial to any decision about providing adequate police coverage to residents in the future, has not been provided.
It is inexcusable that the State can not provide this information to these towns in a timely manner, and unreasonable to expect them to make a responsible, time-sensitive decision without the necessary data. In fact, had these towns filed an “Open Public Records Act” request they would have had the necessary data within a seven day period.
We respectfully urge you to expedite the delivery of this information to the Shamong, Tabernacle and Southampton, or extend the December 15, 2008 deadline.
These towns need time to weigh their options and to study the alternatives to paying for state police patrols. Without this data the only option left to them will be to ask their already stressed residents to dig even deeper and make payments to the state.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Senator Philip E. Haines
Assemblywoman Dawn Marie Addiego
Assemblyman Scott Rudder
Link to Post:
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