Years in the making, report of task force to be presented Thursday night
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Could there be one police force for all of Somerset County?
Details from a 200-page report more than three years in the making will be discussed tonight, Thursday. The feasibility analysis will discuss how police coverage could be combined for the 21 municipalities.
Mayors, governing body police liaisons, municipal administrators and police chiefs were especially invited to the presentation at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Somerset County Vo-Tech Schools, 14 Vogt Drive, Bridgewater. The meeting is open to the public.
In interim reports, county Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano described breaking the county into five coverage zones. Hillsborough, Manville, Montgomery, Rocky Hill and Millstone would comprise one zone.
Those preliminary reports said a single police chief, selected by the municipalities, would oversee the countywide force with a deputy chief or captain in charge of each individual precinct.
Freeholder Mark Caliguire said the report supposes all county municipalities would join the effort, but he said, “I think it’s possible (to be followed) by one or more towns who want to get together.”
The study began with the premise there would be no layoffs of police officers, using attrition to reach the desired number of officers, Mr. Soriano has said. Savings would be achieved by eliminating redundancies, hiring civilians for appropriate work and finding efficiencies in coverage.
Tonight’s meeting will include a follow-up discussion on the next steps to determine municipal interest in pursuing consolidation, said the freeholder.
”This is not a top-down process, but bottom up,” said Mr. Caliguire, meaning the idea must be embraced by municipalities and won’t be imposed.
Mr. Caliguire, a former mayor of Montgomery, said he thought it would be “prudent” for his hometown to consider the idea.
”I know how difficult a financial situation it is in Montgomery,” he said. “It has slimmed down operations and, with a 2 percent (property tax levy) cap, it won’t be easy to continue the same level of services without looking outside of the box.”
The report of a seventh subcommittee, formed in December and chaired by Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, a Hillsborough resident, focused on the most up-to-date financial information.
”The report is very thorough, well thought out and something individual towns need to look at,” Mr. Caliguire said. “It does add detail to financial issues all municipalities are dealing with, and this comes up with one road map to some savings.”
He added he realized it would be a “huge step” for any municipality to give up its own police force.
The task force, which officially was constituted Feb. 17, 2011, is the county’s attempt to examine the delivery of improved municipal services at a reduced cost to taxpayers.
An earlier phase, finished in December 2010, included a police consolidation model prepared by consultant Thomas Banker, who projected a potential savings of upwards of $18 million for a regionalized force when compared to the aggregate cost of delivering policing services through separate municipal departments.
The task force of 11 chiefs, one police director, 12 police unionized representatives, 10 mayors and nine municipal administrators as well as civilian legal and computer appointees broke down to six subcommittees.
The change to a five-precinct plan came from the work of the subcommittee chaired by Hillsborough Police Chief Paul Kaminsky.
A copy of the report will be available starting April 13 on the county’s website at www.co.somerset.nj.us/spotlight.html.