HAZLET – An indoor gun range at the township’s police department headquarters will soon undergo improvements.
The work will be done to keep the range up to standards due to advancements in weaponry and updated training requirements.
“The indoor gun range is not something new for the township and department, it has been located at headquarters since the building was constructed in 1973, but after several decades, it is time to upgrade it and make it bigger,” Police Chief James A. Broderick said in an interview Sept. 16.
“Being in confined environments the byproducts of the weapons have taken their toll, so we plan to enlarge the range and put new equipment in.”
One of the improvements include putting new steel bullet traps in – which Broderick said are used to catch the rounds fired off by officers weapons as they do their required training.
“The steel bullet traps are meant to trap the bullets as officers shoot so that they don’t ricochet.”
“For the 40 years we’ve had the gunrange, the weapons the officers are using have changed – we went from using a sixshot revolver to a semi-automatic pistol which has more rounds, so we want to make sure we are doing whatever we can to keep our officers safe, but also provide them with the best firearm’s training around.”
According to Chief Financial Officer, Thomas O’Hara, the total cost for the improvements to police headquarters at 255 Middle Road will cost the township approximately $600,000.
“Improvements to the police department is something that has been in discussion for a number of years now,” he said. “Over a few budget cycles we have been able to save approximately $105,000 towards the improvements and the remaining $495,000 will be through bonds or notes.”
O’Hara said once the improvements are made, he hopes that the township can encourage surrounding municipalities to use it.
“There are a limited amount of gun ranges within Monmouth County for police departments to use, so the plan is that the facility, when our officers are not there and using it, can be rented out to other local municipalities to use, which has the potential to bring in revenue to the Township – how much money though remains to be seen,” he said.
Broderick agreed that there is a limited amount of ranges available in the county for officers to train. And he credits the fact that the township has its own gun range as to why he feels Hazlet officers are some of the best trained in firearm’s usage.
“Having the gun range at our department headquarters has not only saved us a fortune, but has made our officers some of the best trained in firearm’s usage in the county,” he said.
“Officers are required to qualify two times a year, but there are a limited number of ranges to access. By having our own gun range, our officers are qualified at least three times a year and are some of the most proficient in weapons usage.”
Broderick said having the gun range also has several other benefits to the department and township.
“When we didn’t have the gun range, our officers had to go down to the one at the Monmouth County Police Academy (located in Freehold), which is the only other range I know of besides our own,” he said.
“With their several academies and other municipalities using the range, there was only a limited amount of time and space available for us to go and we had to schedule in advance which didn’t always work out sot we had to pay our officers overtime to do their training.
I think it is great the Township Committee who built the police department had the foresight to put the gun range in as they constructed. It has saved a fortune on overtime because we are not limited on time and schedules as our officers are doing their training while on duty.”