HOWELL — The Howell Police Department has implemented a new program of what it calls “citizen initiated self-reporting” for certain types of minor incidents.
Prior to this change, the police department only took incident reports in person. For instance, when a citizen called to report a crime or incident, a police officer was dispatched to the complainant’s home or business to take a report.
In some instances, residents will now be able to call the police department and have a self-reporting form mailed to them, Police Chief Ronald T. Carter said.
Under the procedures of the new program, an individual who calls to report an incident will speak with a police dispatcher. If the incident falls under the parameters of the new program, a self-reporting form, complete with instructions, will be mailed to the individual.
After completion, the form should be mailed back to the police department, where the information will be evaluated by a supervisor. In some cases the reporting party may be contacted for follow-up. In other cases the report will be filed, Carter said.
According to a press release, police officials believe this program will create a convenient way to report minor incidents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the future, they expect to expand the citizen initiated reporting programs to include online reporting through a secure Internet site.
According to a Jan. 11 memo from Howell police Capt. Donna Craton, the new selfreporting program will not include incidents that are already in progress, incidents where the loss or damage is valued at more than $200, domestic violence or missing persons, or minor offenses that have been reported repeatedly over a series of days or months.
In addition, the police department will no longer be handling unoccupied lockouts of motor vehicles, non-life-threatening emergency medical services calls, environmental crimes where there is no suspect, house checks and water restrictions.
The new program comes as a result of budgetary constraints and a reduction in the staffing level of sworn police officers, officials said.
In the last 18 months the police department has been reduced from 99 officers to 79 officers, Carter said.
According to a 2008 crime analysis, Howell had 95 police officers and an estimated population of 51,335 people.
According to the report, Howell would need 28 additional police officers to attain the Monmouth County rate of 2.4 police officers per 1,000 residents, and 33 additional officers to attain the state rate of 2.5 officers per 1,000 residents.
— Christina Haberstroh