At a recent public hearing held to discuss the 2008 Middletown municipal budget, resident and Democratic candidate for Township Committee James Grenefage urged the Township Committee to explore reducing the size of the Middletown police force. His comments (quoted in theMay 14 edition of the Independent) suggest that a reduction of the police force should be considered to potentially reduce the budget. Upon hearing this proposal, one needs to wonder what is the true cost of taking police off our streets?
Middletown Township continues to be the safest community in Monmouth or Ocean County with the lowest crime rate. Furthermore, the most recent statistics show that Middletown Township is one of the safest communities in all of New Jersey. All of this has been done with a police force that ranks the lowest in number of police per capita in Monmouth and Ocean County.Middletown currently employs 99 police officers to cover a township of 69,000 residents with over 330 miles of road within its 41.4 square miles.After examining these numbers, one could argue that we are actually understaffed. Any measure to cut back on an understaffed police force would put the safety and security of this community in jeopardy.
As a candidate and, more importantly, a resident of Middletown, I am disheartened thatMr. Grenefage would put such a proposal before the Township Committee. Our police department should be applauded, not reduced. If he would like to look for ways to reduce the budget deficit, I would urge him to look no further than the $1.5 million in unfunded mandates, the $1.1 million in state pension costs and the $634,000 in municipal aid cuts (money that is sent byMiddletown residents) that his own party in Trenton is imposing on the residents of this township.
Anthony Fiore
Middletown