Armed with boats, flotation vests and other
equipment, police will be ready for nearly anything
By:Krzysztof Scibiorski
Manville police will be ready to respond to flood emergencies and more, thanks to a $129,000 state grant used to buy potentially life-saving equipment.
The grant allowed police a bit of an "emergency equipment shopping spree" to ensure that a future flood would not leave the town without enough right equipment, like 1999’s Tropical Storm Floyd did.
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New vehicle used to chase thieves Manville police had a chance to use the recently arrived Polaris Ranger quad while looking for the people who stole a motorcycle and an all-terrain vehicle on Friday. At about 1 p.m., a Red Honda Dirt Bike and Red Polaris ATV were reported stolen from a garage on Hillsborough’s Valley Road. The suspects were spotted by Hillsborough police as they entered Manville on the railroad tracks behind Kennedy Boulevard. At about 6 p.m., the stolen vehicles were reported to be in the woods behind Christ the King School on North 13th Avenue. Detective Guilbert and Detective Sgt. Sniscak used the Ranger vehicle to scour the wooded area for the missing vehicles and their riders. The two stolen vehicles were found at a Valerie Drive property on Saturday, and four Manville juveniles were turned over to the Hillsborough Police Department. At press time, Hillsborough police did not release any information regarding possible charges being filed as a result of the incident. |
"During Floyd, (Manville Police Detective) Mike (Guilbert) was out there for hours going around in his own boat that he brought from home," recalls Detective Sgt. Mark Sniscak. "The Rescue Squad had one boat and that was pretty much it."
Next time a disaster strikes, the borough will be much more ready with equipment that has arrived, or is expected shortly, including two rescue boats, two four-wheel vehicles, a van, a command center trailer as well as water rescue equipment for the officers.
"We will be a hundred times more ready than last time," Police Chief Jack Petrovic said. "Manville will be as well equipped of a small community as we possibly could be. These things are not for water-rescue alone; we’ve never had this type of equipment ever before."
The police prepared themselves for the deluge of equipment by constructing a garage at the former car inpund site next to the station.
"We wanted to do this right, we wanted to have this ready and up before any of the equipment got here," Detective Guilbert said this week.
He said that electricity and heating will be installed in the garage before fall in order to make sure that all of the new equipment will be properly stored for years to come.
"There are no hand-me downs here; everything we’re getting is top of the line," Sgt. Sniscak said. "There will now be a total of six borough-owned boats, and we are going to be a lot better prepared in the future."
Sgt. Sniscak said that the boats and four-wheel vehicles give the Police Department the ability to cover and patrol the low-lying areas of the borough that have been previously inaccessible for police vehicles.
"With the Polaris Ranger we will be able to get injured people out of the woods or the low lying areas a lot faster than carrying them out on stretchers for half a mile," Sgt. Sniscak said.
The grant, obtained with the help of Assemblymen Kip Bateman, R-Branchburg, and Pete Biondi, R-Hillsborough, and State Senator Walter Kavanaugh, R-Somerville, materialized when a check was received by the department in December, Detective Guilbert said.
The police have 12 months to make use of these fund he added.