Millstone weighing options for stronger police presence

But getting its own police force could be too expensive.

By: Lauren Burgoon
   MILLSTONE — Talk of whether Millstone needs its own police department crops up every so often, usually when people are shaken by a string of crimes in town. But in a town where the municipal tax rate is only pennies and the tax base is meager, starting a police force is easier said than done.
   Still, the debate has begun anew over creating a department. As in the past, the latest calls for something to be done about the police situation came in the aftermath of a succession of robberies that targeted both residences and businesses in December. No one has been caught in the incidents that mainly focused on homes in the Indian Path neighborhood.
   Few would disagree that more police protection would be a wonderful thing for Millstone. State police currently patrol the town based out of a Hamilton substation that is nearly 15 miles away from the heart of Millstone. But what form the increased presence should take and how the town will afford it are looming issues that, for now, have no answers.
   The cost of forming a new police force is prohibitive to say the least. Deputy Mayor Nancy Grbelja, who has been researching policing issues and discussing the matter with the state police, estimated that starting a department would cost upwards of $21 million. That far outweighs the town’s $6 million budget in 2004 and yearly police salaries, benefits and operating costs would be piled onto that price tag.
   Currently Millstone pays nothing for state police protection. State officials considered charging towns for the service several years ago, but the proposal was met with immediate objections from towns like Millstone and Upper Freehold. Upper Freehold officials went as far as posting the information on the town Web site and encouraging people to call state representatives to oppose the plan.
   As opposed to the free service Millstone currently enjoys, Ms. Grbelja said, a department could more than double the municipal tax rate in a town where people already pay a lot in taxes. The municipal rate may be the lowest in the county at 7 cents per $100 of assessed value, but school and county taxes add up to large bills for residents.
   "A lot of people are quick to say they don’t mind paying more if it will get a police department, until they get their tax bill," Ms. Grbelja noted wryly.
   Even more commercial ratables would not significantly lessen the burden, Ms. Grbelja said. While Millstone is making an effort to secure more ratables, Ms. Grbelja said that, for example, right now the McDonald’s and Burger King restaurants in town each are only equal to the tax revenue from two homes despite being the largest, most profitable chains nationwide. Millstone cannot charge businesses based on their profits so the only way to get more commercial tax revenue is to get more commercial business, which some people fear could detract from the town’s rural character.
   Another idea floated around of getting neighboring police departments to patrol Millstone is also rife with obstacles, Ms. Grbelja added.
   "It’s easy to say that we want to use their police officers but that would be part of collective bargaining agreements. We couldn’t just arbitrarily go in and say that without the officers having something in their contracts about patrolling Millstone," she said.
   The improbability that Millstone could get its own police force has prompted some residents to brainstorm other ideas. Former Mayor Evan Maltz has a personal connection to the issue because his home was one of those hit in the December robberies.
   Despite his desire to get a stronger police presence in town, Mr. Maltz agreed that an independent police force is not the way to go right now. He was on the Township Committee the last time creating a department was discussed in earnest in 2001, also after a string of burglaries. Then the town studied what effect a department would have and Mr. Maltz said the start up costs were "astronomical and not something the taxpayers could pay for."
   The best compromise for cost and feasibility in Mr. Maltz’s mind is creating a satellite state police station in the newly renovated Clarksburg School, which will shortly be transformed into additional municipal office space. The town would pay 120 to 125 percent of a state trooper’s yearly salary and benefits to get a trooper on duty in the building 24 hours, seven days a week.
   "That would absolutely take care of the majority of our needs," Mr. Maltz said Tuesday. "We would have a paid officer on duty and there would still be other state police officers on duty in neighboring towns like Roosevelt and Upper Freehold in case they need back up."
   Ideas like that are what Ms. Grbelja plans to discuss with Hamilton substation commander Lt. Kathleen Devlin at a meeting this week. The committeewoman and lieutenant have met several times to discuss the policing situation in Millstone. But Ms. Grbelja warned that the issue with creating a substation or an informal office here is manpower. The state police have suffered budgetary and staff cuts in recent years, although acting Gov. Richard Codey did just approve additional money to hire more troopers.
   Mr. Maltz said he thinks the state police are making the best of a less than ideal situation.
   "They absolutely do the best job they can but they are stretched too thin," he said. "People are understandably upset. Their homes are being robbed at the same time when there are children home or children getting off the bus."
   No matter what happens with a substation or additional police presence, no one is taking the matter lightly. There are still acknowledged serious issues that need to be ironed out between the town, state police and 911 operators. Confusion between callers and the operators led to a lengthy response time during one of the December burglaries and has possibly affected other calls.
   Mr. Maltz knows from experience. At the beginning of January he called 911 to report a Route 33 car accident that he witnessed. The operator didn’t know the proper police department to contact and ended up connecting Mr. Maltz with the Middlesex County 911 operator and he had to explain the situation all over again. He is mindful that in a life-threatening situation precious time is lost doing this.
   "There are definitely kinks in the system," he said. "Millstone is right on the border of Middlesex, Monroe, Mercer and Ocean counties. If people have a hard time explaining where they are calling from, the operators don’t know which police station to contact."
   That problem also is on Ms. Grbelja’s agenda when she meets with Lt. Devlin. She said that residents who place emergency calls need to say that they are in Millstone rather than giving their mailing address town. That will help 911 operators realize that they should call the state police right away.
   Ms. Grbelja further recommended that emergency calls be placed directly with the state police until the communication problems are solved. The number, (609) 584-5000, is repeated regularly on the town’s public access station, Channel 77.
   In the meantime, state police have stepped up patrols around town, according to Ms. Grbelja. Residents, including Mr. Maltz, have noticed the effect. A family member was waiting at the end of the Maltz’s driveway for Mr. Maltz’s son to come off the school bus one day recently. Normally the woman would have gone unnoticed, "but this time three police cars separately drove up to ask her for her credentials and question why she was there," he said. "We’re definitely being watched."