By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – A new officer has joined the Freehold Township Police Department.
At the Sept. 20 meeting of the Township Committee, Justin Paul Nunno was sworn in as an officer with Freehold Township’s law enforcement agency.
According to information provided by the township, Nunno, 28, previously was a Class II special law enforcement officer with the Point Pleasant Beach Police Department and a patrol officer with the Stockton University Police Department in Galloway Township.
He previously worked as an assistant program director with Art Beins Karate, Freehold Township.
Nunno is a 2006 graduate of Howell High School, which he attended while Mayor Barbara McMorrow was principal. He graduated from Stockton University in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
The appointment of a new patrol officer follows the continuing retirement of veteran officers from the Freehold Township police force. The retirements began in earnest in 2014 when officers who had joined the department between 25 and 30 years earlier started leaving the force.
At that time, members of the governing body began planning and budgeting to hire new officers. Officials said the retirement of veteran personnel is expected to continue until 2017.
The 2016 municipal budget indicates there are 66 police officers employed by Freehold Township.
In other business, committee members passed a resolution authorizing a contract for the installation, upgrade and repair of the township’s security systems.
According to the resolution, Freehold Township will enter into a contract with Champion Systems Integration, a provider of security systems.
As stated in the resolution, the contract is the result of a need for the installation, upgrade and repair of the security systems. The director of finance will certify the availability of funds on an as-needed basis when Freehold Township needs the security systems to be installed, upgraded and repaired, according to the resolution.