Change needed in sheriff’s office

Thomas Nothstein, Monroe
   On Feb. 10, Democrat Freeholder James Polos, when speaking about the Sheriff’s Department, stated that “numerous specialty services are not being provided to the municipalities” and “the department needs new leadership.”
   Truer words were never spoken!
   Since all political parties involved agree that there must be a change in the Sheriff’s Department, the question arises as to how to best implement this change.
   The Democrats solution is to offer Mildred Scott as their agent of change. Ms. Scott, who is a retired sheriff’s officer, learned her trade under current Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo. The defining issue becomes how can a former sheriff’s officer, who retired 15 years ago and learned her trade in what Polos described as a dysfunctional department, have the management skills to be effective in today’s law enforcement environment.
   Ms. Scott, based upon current pronouncements, seems content to perpetuate the policies of Sheriff Spicuzzo. She is going to do this because her experience is based upon serving under Sheriff Spicuzzo and having Sheriff Spicuzzo as her mentor. Dysfunctionality is all that she knows.
   The Democrats have offered a candidate with no qualifications to be a county sheriff in New Jersey in 2010. Ms. Scott may have the qualifications to have been the Sheriff in 1910, but definitely not in 2010.
   Conversely, the Republicans have offered a candidate that has an impeccable 27-year career in the NJ State Police, a member of the state police superintendent’s cabinet and a graduate of the FBI academy.
   Keith Hackett brings the professional qualifications that the Sheriff’s department desperately needs. Keith Hackett has the qualifications for Middlesex County Sheriff that James Polos was speaking about in February. Mr. Hackett will bring to the office of the Middlesex County sheriff something that has been sorely lacking for the past 30 years — a trained, experienced, law-enforcement professional.
Thomas Nothstein
Monroe