Princeton Borough to resume community policing program

By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
   Your friendly neighborhood police officers are about to be back on the beat.
   After being shelved for several months due to personnel shortages, the Princeton Borough Police Department’s community policing unit will return Jan. 1 with a new name and extended duties.
   The newly titled Community Service Unit will take over and expand the roles formerly held by the dormant Safe Neighborhoods Unit.
   The new unit’s duties will include traffic duties, truck enforcement details, enforcement of skateboarders in the plaza, a foot patrol of the central business district, and a patrol of Prospect Avenue during certain nights.
   Borough Police Chief Anthony Federico has said that the unit’s goal is to “develop personal relationships” with the residents and business owners in the borough.
   The unit will be led by Sgt. Robert Currier and will include patrol officers William Perez, Sean McNeff, Sean Cahill and Leonard Thomas.
   The officers in the unit will conduct their patrols Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2 to 10 p.m. and Thursday though Saturday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
   Chief among the unit’s tasks will be addressing the concerns cited most often by the residents of specific neighborhoods.
   ”Most of the time it’s speeding cars and that kind of thing,” Chief Federico said.
   Part of their duties will be to schedule and conduct community meetings in the different neighborhoods where they will establish a routine presence.
   In the past, such meetings have been held in the John Witherspoon neighborhood and those will likely continue, Chief Federico said.
   The group will also likely meet with residents and community leaders on Prospect Avenue and in both the east and west end of town, he said.
   ”I foresee this unit working directly with the various communities in the town,” he said.