Council debates police priorities

OKs leasing of two squad cars

By:Alec Moore
   The leasing of two new police cars sparked heated discussion among the Borough Council Monday.
   Following a closed session discussion on the issue, the council approved the leasing of two Ford police cruisers at a combined rate of $1,410 per month for the next 36 months, totaling $50,760.
   Borough Council President Ted Petrock, who presided over the meeting in the absence of Mayor Angelo Corradino, and fellow Democrats Senga Allan and Tom Weiss voted in favor of leasing the new vehicles as a means of enhancing safety in the borough. Mike Polak, a Republican, also supported the measure.
   Republican Councilwoman Susan Asher and Councilman Martin Wierzba, however, made it clear that while they are also committed to enhancing safety, they do not believe additional vehicles, in and of themselves, will enhance safety in town.
   Ms. Asher and Mr. Wierzba said that if the borough is going to spend $50,000 to enhance safety in town, then that money would be more wisely spent by hiring two full-time dispatchers, at $25,000 per year for each.
   To support their view, Ms. Asher and Mr. Wierzba cited the extremely challenging weekend that Manville police faced last week, in which a gun incident, several brawls and a domestic dispute were reported as well as one case of cardiac arrest in which a woman died. Mutual aid assistance from both Hillsborough and Bridgewater was required to deal with the number of calls received on those nights.
   "These are two nights in a row that we’ve had these kinds of situations," said Ms. Asher, who pointed out that having a full-time dispatcher manning the Police Department’s switchboard would free up one of its officers to be out on patrol, responding to emergencies. "Having a third officer on the roads could have made a big difference in our department’s ability to respond to them quickly," she said.
   Mr. Wierzba echoed Ms. Asher’s sentiments and accused the council’s Democrats of being "hypocritical" when it comes to spending for the Police Department.
   "You guys keep telling me we don’t have the money to hire two dispatchers, so now I’m asking you why is it that all of a sudden we can afford two new police cars, where’s this money coming from," Mr. Wierzba said. "What good are these cars if we don’t even have the manpower to fill them?"
   Police Chief John Petrovic said at the meeting that the two cars being leased will be replacing two other cars in the department’s fleet. The marked patrol units will be "retired," repainted and turned over to the department’s Detective Bureau.
   Chief Petrovic said there are generally between three to five cars on patrol at any given time.