PRINCETON: Police issue looms large in consolidation talk

By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
   PRINCETON — In 2008, the $3.6 million that Princeton Borough spent on its 34-member police force was its biggest departmental expenditure by far and accounted for 14.3 percent of its $25.3 million budget, overwhelmingly for salaries and wages.
   Princeton Township spent 10.7 percent of its $35.3 million budget in 2008 — at $3.8 million also its biggest departmental budget — on its own 31-member police force, again overwhelmingly for salaries and wages.
   In 2008, 19 borough police officers earned over $85,000 a year, four earning six-figure salaries, topped by Police Chief Anthony Federico, who earned $160,364.
   In 2008, 28 township police officers earned more than $90,000 a year, 12 earning six-figure salaries, with Police Chief Mark Emann earning $150,800.
   Uniformly, elected officials in both the borough and township — which already share many services through joint departments, such as the library, health and fire departments — as do both borough and township police chiefs, say that a combined police force makes sense, and could save the two municipalities significant money, both in salaries and equipment outlays, through a single streamlined, more efficient department.
   So why are there still two forces?
   The answer lies in part with the history and uniquely important role of policing in both communities, in the difficulties in reducing officers under union contract, as well as in the tangled story of unsuccessful attempts at merging the two Princetons — with some politicians believing a push for a combined police force might distract attention from the higher goal of full municipal consolidation.
   Joint services and consolidation will be the subject of a joint meeting of Princeton Township Committee and Borough Council on Monday night at Township Hall at 7 p.m.
   ”I believe the police departments should be number one on our hit list to unify,” said Borough Councilman Kevin Wilkes.
   ”The township police drive through the borough every day to get to the other side of the township,” Mr. Wilkes said. “So effectively we have officers on duty driving through our community with their eyes closed,” because they have no official authority there, he said.
   Mr. Wilkes, along with Township Committeeman Lance Liverman, recently explored the idea of a single police department housed at the township headquarters and policing both municipalities.
   Both Mr. Wilkes and Mr. Liverman said they were informed by the state Department of Community Affairs that the borough’s police department couldn’t simply be disbanded, and police oversight moved to the township.
   Mr. Wilkes said he still advocates combining both forces and basing the new joint department at the township, which has a facility that could accommodate a combined department. “The needs for unified policing are pressing in our community,” he said.
   ”I personally think we can make it in Princeton with one police department without any problem at all, and I would like to see the police department housed in the township,” said Mr. Liverman. He said that given what the DCA has said about there being no ability to disband the borough’s police department, he is not sure the time is now right for merging the departments.
   ”I would like to see the discussion of consolidation as a whole, not as pieces,” at present, Mr. Liverman said. He said that attempting to consolidate such a “big ticket item” as police services might take away from the momentum for full municipal consolidation.
   ”I have always been a proponent of consolidation” of the borough and township police departments, said Chief Federico. “I think that a consolidated department would serve the community better than the two departments do now because we could do more with less people,” he said.
   Chief Federico said significant savings would occur. “One chief, and possibly as many as six to seven sergeants could be eliminated,” he said. Additionally, tens of thousands of dollars could be saved annually because duplicate computer systems and many police vehicles would no longer be needed, he said.
   Chief Federico said he believed a combined force of 55 officers could police Princeton. According to 2007 municipal data filed with the state, adjacent Lawrence Township employed 69 officers to police its 32,000 population, 22 square mile municipality (combined, Princeton’s population is about 30,000 and both the borough and township cover 18 square miles), although its incidence of violent and other crimes was significantly higher than in both Princetons.
   Of whether there might be any public safety drawbacks to a combined police force, Chief Federico said, “I see no drawbacks whatsoever.”
   Township Police Chief Emann said he supported the concept of a combined police force, but “I just hope that it’s done the right way.”
   ”One drawback that I see if we just joined the police departments and not the governments is how do you handle the police department having two bosses,” Chief Emann said.
   Also, the township is “virtually all residential, with pockets of commercial,” different from the denser mix of residential and commercial in the borough, Chief Emann said. “You just want to make sure that both sides are equally represented with police protection,” in a combined force, he said.
   Township Mayor Bernie Miller said he is for pursuing full municipal consolidation rather than looking solely at policing, or public works which is the other large department which the borough and township still operate separately.
   His biggest concern with combining policing without full consolidation “is the issue of management and reporting,” Mayor Miller said. “You can’t have a police department reporting to a committee or to two mayors. There has to be a clear line of authority,” he said.
   Consolidating the police departments alone would only be feasible if, like with joint health services in Princeton, which report to and are overseen by the borough, they “had a clear line of reporting to one of the mayors, but I think that would have to be studied. That would be the only way I could see it work,” Mayor Miller said.
   Other members of Township Committee all agreed with Mayor Miller that they would like to see full municipal consolidation pursued rather than only the police department. “I have always felt that full municipal consolidation is the only way,” said Township Deputy Mayor Chad Goerner.
   ”You just can’t have a police department with two separate bosses,” said Committeewoman Sue Nemeth.
   ”Citizen oversight and a clear chain of command, I feel is just really essential for a well run police force,” said Committeewoman Liz Lempert. “The police are different (from other agencies) because of the nature of the service they provide,” she said.
   Mayor Mildred Trotman said she was still not as enthusiastic about full municipal consolidation as some, although “I don’t see a downside to moving forward to consolidate the police department under any circumstance.” Mayor Trotman said with other joint agencies the question of joint oversight had been adequately addressed and she saw no reason why it couldn’t be worked out for a joint police department.
   ”I’m in favor of both, I don’t think they are mutually exclusive,” said Borough Councilman Roger Martindell of pursuing police department and full municipal consolidation at the same time.
   Councilman David Goldfarb said he remains opposed to full consolidation but “I favor combining just about any and all of the remaining services, including the police department.”
   Council President Andrew Koontz said the benefits to a combined force appear to be mostly financial. “I think it’s worth taking a stronger look at than we have done so far,” he said.
   Former Borough Mayor Marvin Reed, a member of the state Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization and Consolidation Commission, which has been studying achieving efficiencies through municipal consolidation among other avenues, said “Princeton is a size where you’d be able to achieve economies of scale by bringing the departments together.”
   ”This is an occasion of the moment that we must seize,” said Mr. Wilkes of police consolidation. “Let’s carve out this piece of the pie, do it well, and show the community that we can successfully execute this piece,” he said. “I think it will lead to a larger potential of inevitability,” for full consolidation, he said.
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